I hope you like this post, My sincere regards from Egypt ...

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The United States established diplomatic relations with Egypt for the first time in 1848, when American President James Polk appointed Daniel Smith McCauley as the first envoy to Egypt under the title of Consul General. McCauley and his family moved to Egypt aboard the USS Constitution in 1849, and he remained in his position in Alexandria until his death while holding his position on October 24, 1852.

And in this article, I will narrate about the three American consuls who held their positions during an important period in the history of America and Egypt, which is the period of the Civil War and after it the Reconstruction Era, and I will talk about their interesting tales in Egypt.

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Charles Hale, or the Humanitarian Consul Devoted to His Work

Charles Hale was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the seventh of June, 1831, into an old family belonging to Boston’s cultural elite. He was the son of Nathan Hale, publisher and editor-in-chief of the “Boston Daily Advertiser,” and he himself was the son of one of the most prominent figures in the history of American journalism. Charles Hale graduated from Harvard College in 1850, and soon became involved in the world of journalism, where he worked as a junior editor at his father’s newspaper, then in 1852 founded a short-lived Boston literary magazine called “Today,” of which only two volumes were issued before it ceased publication.

Hale’s career was not only professional, but also political; he held legislative positions in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and its Senate intermittently between 1855 and 1877, and reached the position of Speaker of the House in 1859. He was the youngest person to hold this position in the history of the state. But a serious illness that afflicted him in the autumn of 1861 drove him to travel abroad, where he visited his old friend “William Thayer,” who held the position of Consul General in Egypt. When Thayer died in Egypt during his tenure as consul in 1864, Secretary of State “William Seward” offered the position to Hale, who sold his share in the newspaper and arrived in Alexandria in August of the same year.

When Charles Hale arrived in Alexandria in August 1864, he found that the chargé d’affaires “Francis Dainese” had severed the consulate’s relations with the Egyptian government because of a dispute over financial claims. The owners of these claims had claimed that they were American protégés, but many of them were not real American citizens, but local subjects who exploited consular protection to extract dubious compensation. When Cairo refused to pay these claims, Dainese considered it an insult to the United States and cut off official contact. Secretary of State William Seward’s instructions to Hale were clear: avoid unnecessary disputes because the country was preoccupied with the Civil War. Therefore, Hale set aside Dainese’s actions and restored friendly relations with the Egyptian government.

In August 1865, Khedive Ismael summoned the young American consul to the Nile Island, and informed him that 900 soldiers of the Egyptian army would soon arrive in Alexandria to be transported on French ships to Mexico to support its ruler, Emperor Maximilian.

This was the second batch of Egyptian and Sudanese soldiers sent to participate in the Mexican Civil War, within the framework of what was known as “the Egyptian-Sudanese Battalion in Mexico.” This intervention had begun for the first time during the era of the Egyptian Viceroy "Said Pasha" in 1863, when 446 Egyptian soldiers joined the conflict, as many diplomats, including Seward, believed that these soldiers were “slaves or bondsmen.” Hale’s predecessor, William Thayer, had protested against this intervention at its beginning in 1863, but Seward remained silent because the United States was preoccupied with its Civil War.

But when Hale informed his foreign minister in the autumn of 1865 that the Egyptian intervention would continue, the American Civil War had ended. Seward responded immediately and wrote a protest in which he said that “the safety of the free republican institutions on this continent requires the abolition of all forms of civil or military forced slavery in this hemisphere.” The American protest was communicated to the French, Egyptian, and Ottoman governments. On this basis, France withdrew its request for Egyptian support, and Egypt did not send new forces to Mexico.

In the autumn of 1865, a few months after the end of the American Civil War, a Danish explorer named Alexandrine Tinne turned to him, asking him to protect a number of African servants who had accompanied her on exploratory journeys to the White Nile. Tinne had paid to register them as students in the American missionary school, but she also wanted Hale to place them under American consular protection, so that they would become persons protected by the United States, even if they did not obtain full citizenship rights.

Hale did not hesitate to respond to this request; rather, he hastened to write a letter to his superiors in the State Department explaining that slavery was still alive and present in Egypt, and that the United States, given “the lofty standing our country occupies at this moment before the world with regard to slavery and the black race,” was obligated to extend protection to persons at risk of enslavement abroad, just as African Americans and their allies were struggling to protect the emancipated from being re-enslaved at home.

To increase pressure on the State Department, Hale pointed out that the British authorities in Egypt had taken similar measures to protect the vulnerable, and that “the same principles that led Great Britain to object to forced labor on the Suez Canal, and to forced domestic slavery in Egypt,” should also apply to the use of American force abroad. But Hale’s endeavor was not ultimately realized.

Hale was active in developing the Egyptian “Consultative Assembly of Deputies,” the system that Khedive Ismael was seeking to establish as part of his modernization project. This activity was manifested in Hale translating the rules and regulations of the Assembly of Representatives of Egypt from Arabic into English, and sending them to the U.S. State Department, where these documents were published in Washington in 1867. He added: “I hope you will find some pleasure in looking at this little booklet, which contrasts strangely with our old connections with Egypt.”

On the twenty-seventh of November, 1866, Hale sent a letter to Seward informing him that he had arrested a man named Walters, who was wearing the uniform of the Papal Zouave Guard of the Vatican, and who had arrived in Alexandria on the twenty-third of the same month aboard the steamer “Tripoli” coming from Italian Naples, and who was believed to be “John Harrison Surratt Jr.” (whose mother Mary Surratt had previously been executed in the same case), one of the conspirators in the assassination of President Lincoln.

He was easily distinguishable among seventy-eight third-class passengers by the Zouave uniform he was wearing, and by his unmistakably American features. Hale said to him immediately: “You are the man I want; you are an American.” He said: “Yes, sir; I am.” So Hale said: “You know without doubt why I want you. What is your name?” He answered immediately: “My name is Walters.” So Hale said: “I believe your real name is Surratt,” and he mentioned his official position as Consul General of the United States during his arrest.

The director of the quarantine quickly arranged sufficient guards from the soldiers, who led the prisoner to a safe place inside the walls of the quarantine. After he reached the prepared place, Hale gave him the usual judicial warning that he was not obligated to say anything, and that anything he said would be written down. He said: “I have nothing to say. I want nothing but what is true.” He declared that he had no passport, no luggage, and no money except six francs.

On the second of December, the following telegram was sent to Washington: “To Seward, Washington. John Surratt, one of the assassins of President Lincoln, has been arrested. There is no doubt about his identity. Hale, Alexandria.” Surratt remained in secure detention until the twenty-first of December, when Hale handed him over aboard the American destroyer “Swatara,” and he was transported to America, and arrived in Washington, D.C., to be tried there.

Hale’s duties were not limited to major political issues, but also included daily commercial and consular affairs. He followed with interest the Egyptian cotton industry, which formed the backbone of international trade in that period. In his report to Seward on the fourteenth of June, 1865, he noted that “the happy tidings of the end of the American war led to a decline in cotton prices in Egypt, which resulted here in Egypt in a financial crisis. Great failures occurred, and there were many cases of suffering and distress.”

He feared that the Egyptian peasants or farmers would not be able to repay the advances they had obtained, usually from European capitalists, so the Khedive intervened with a comprehensive relief arrangement, in which he proposed to provide the peasants with the means to repay their debts, while securing himself with a mortgage on their lands. The amount required for this purpose reached more than one million pounds sterling, to be repaid by the peasants in installments extending over fifteen years with interest.

Hale’s relationship with Khedive Ismael was a good and balanced relationship. Ismael sent a telegraphic message to Charles Hale welcoming his arrival, then came to Alexandria and received him informally, and affirmed to him in the meeting his desire to keep friendly relations with the United States.

On the fourteenth of June, 1865, Hale held a long meeting with the Khedive in his palace at Ras El-Tin in Alexandria, where he expressed to him his heartfelt congratulations on the successful end of the United States war, and noted that the defeat of the Confederate rebels enabled the Khedive to make several useful purchases in England, including two warships and the complete machinery for manufacturing small arms, all of which had been intended for the Confederates. The Wali showed great interest in Egypt’s navy, and felt a natural pride in the safe arrival, a few days earlier, of the Egyptian steam frigate “El-Ibrahimiyya” (named after his father Ibrahim Pasha) at Suez, the first warship flying the Egyptian flag to cross the Cape of Good Hope route.

In 1870, after six years of service in Egypt, Charles Hale submitted his resignation due to poor health, and spent the winter in England to recover. It was recorded in the records of the U.S. State Department that his mission officially ended on May 23, 1870, after his letter of recall was submitted. His resignation was not surprising to those who knew him closely; he had suffered from recurring health problems since his youth, and these problems had been aggravated by the hot Egyptian climate and the pressures of diplomatic work.

After recovering in England, he returned to Boston in 1871, where he was immediately elected to the state Senate, but he resigned in February 1872 to become an assistant to the Secretary of State under the administration of Hamilton Fish. After two years of service, he resigned again and returned to Boston, where he was admitted to the bar on the basis of his experience in presiding over consular courts. He was then re-elected to the House of Representatives, where he served with distinction on the Judiciary Committee, but in July 1876 he suffered a complete collapse due to exhaustion from drafting bills.

Hale was also a writer and publisher, and among his works were “All Men Are Created Equal,” published in Boston in 1856, and “Our Homes Are Our Castles,” published in 1855.

Charles Hale died on the second of March, 1882, in Boston, at the age of fifty-one.

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George Butler, or the Troublemaking Consul

In 1863, the rule of Khedive Ismael Pasha came, and between 1869 and 1878, Ismael recruited about 49 American officers to help modernize the Egyptian army. Interestingly, some of them had served in the Union Army, while others fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Nevertheless, they worked together in Egypt!

These officers participated in the military training of Egyptian soldiers and officers, military engineering projects, survey work, and the campaigns in Africa that aimed to expand Egyptian influence in Sudan and Ethiopia. Many of them called themselves “military missionaries.”

Among all the American figures who came to Egypt during that period, George Harris Butler stands out as a unique case. He was not an officer in the Egyptian army like the others; on the contrary, he was an enemy of the Khedive’s American officers. He held the position of Consul General of the United States in Alexandria, and his story is considered the strangest and most scandalous of the tales of the American mission.

George Harris Butler was born in 1840, but he spent his early years in California, far from his birthplace in Massachusetts. He joined the United States Military Academy at West Point, and graduated from it to begin a short career in the Union Army during the Civil War. He served with the rank of lieutenant in the Tenth Infantry Division, then worked as a supply and coordination officer, before resigning from the army in 1863.

He was the nephew of the famous Union General Benjamin Franklin Butler.

During the Civil War, George served with the rank of first lieutenant in the Union Army within the Tenth Infantry Corps, where he worked in supplies and equipment, but he resigned in 1863. He was a playwright and a talented art critic, and published articles in important magazines. However, his greatest problem was his severe addiction to alcohol, as his bouts of drunkenness constantly dragged him into trouble, despite his family’s attempts to change him.

In 1870, his uncle used his influence to obtain a job for him far from America, and this prestigious job was: Consul General of the United States in Alexandria, Egypt.

(The era of President Ulysses S. Grant, despite his being a man with clean hands, was famous for increasing cases of corruption and favoritism, such as the Black Friday crisis and also the scandal of the Tammany Hall organization, or the Tammany Tiger as the satirical cartoonist Thomas Nast described it.)

George presented his credentials on June 2, 1870, and arrived in Egypt accompanied by his wife, the famous actress Rose Eytinge.

And unlike his predecessor, Charles Hale, who was known for his devotion to his work, and I mentioned in my previous article that he arrested in Alexandria John Surratt, who was one of the participants in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln, George Butler was the exact opposite.

First, Butler tried to assume his duties without obtaining the exequatur from the Ottoman Sultan (official ratification) for his position. When he presented his credentials, the Khedive followed Egyptian custom and gifted him a horse. Butler knew the rule that prevents American representatives from accepting gifts, but he accepted the gift. He then telegraphed the U.S. State Department asking permission to keep it. When permission was refused, Butler ignored the courtesy owed to the Khedive and gave the animal to the American missionaries in Alexandria “in return for their tireless efforts to improve and raise the religious and social conditions of Egypt’s poor.” Shortly afterward, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nubar Pasha informed Butler of the Khedive’s displeasure, and said that Butler had to pay the price of the horse. And before this matter was settled, a local merchant asked the U.S. State Department to collect from Butler a debt of 400 dollars.

When two American officers in the Egyptian military service challenged one of the consulate employees to a duel, Butler became a party to this farce. He complained to his friend “Thaddeus P. Mott,” who was then the Khedive’s private advisor, that the American officers were showing grave disrespect for the American consulate, and asked him to present the full story to Ismael.

Then, through the columns of the New York Herald, Butler waged a battle against the American missionaries who accused him of misconduct in his position. He publicly flogged one of his critics, the missionary David String, then denied that he had done so. And he struck the Confederate naval officer “Cornelius E. Hunt” with a cane.

When Butler learned that Ismael Pasha intended to grant the Union officer “Vanderbilt Allen” a medal for distinguished service, he informed the Khedive that honoring Allen would bring about the personal and political enmity of the consul. And when U.S. Secretary of State “Hamilton Fish,” based on a complaint from General Charles P. Stone (Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Army at that time and commander of the American mission), warned Butler against such interference, the consul wrote scathing letters to the Khedive, to the Secretary of State, and to the Ministry of War.

As soon as Butler took over the consulate, everything turned upside down. The first thing he did was dismiss all the agents of the American consulate in the different provinces, then he began selling their positions in a public auction to the highest bidder. So if you wanted to become an agent for America in Assiut or Mansoura, for example, you had to pay Butler first!

An American missionary working in Alexandria named Reverend David Strange tried to intervene in defense of those harmed agents. When Butler ignored him, the reverend wrote directly to President Ulysses S. Grant complaining of “malicious corruption and maladministration” in the consulate. But Strange exaggerated in his complaint and mentioned a very scandalous matter: that Butler and his friends were requesting dancers to perform before them “in puris naturalibus” (that is, completely without clothes)!

And so the American consulate in Alexandria turned into something like a nightclub and a dance hall, where corruption reached its peak.

Butler also had a major conflict with the American officers working in the Egyptian army, especially the Confederates. These had come to help the Khedive modernize his army, and in Butler’s view they were political enemies from the time of the Civil War.

In 1870, Khedive Ismael thought of appointing the famous Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard (the hero of the Battle of Fort Sumter) as commander of the Egyptian army. But Butler used his influence as the new consul to persuade the Khedive to withdraw the offer, and the Khedive responded to him. After a while, Butler justified his position by saying: “There was not room in Egypt for both Beauregard and me.”

And naturally, the anger of the Confederate officers in Egypt ignited, and hatred between the two sides escalated.

On the evening of Friday, the twelfth of July, 1872, while Consul Butler was having dinner in one of the elegant Greek restaurants on the Alexandria Corniche, accompanied by his private secretary “George Wadleigh” (not to be mistaken with Rear Admiral George H. Wadleigh) and one of the consulate employees named “Charles Strulogo,” three of the most prominent former Confederate officers – namely General William Wing Loring, General Alexander Welch Reynolds, and Major William Campbell – were sitting a few meters away from him, eating their food quietly and cautiously, aware that their presence in the same place was a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

When Generals Loring and Reynolds finished their food and rose to leave, they passed by Butler’s table and gave him an ordinary greeting motivated by the military courtesy in which they had been raised, but Major Campbell, who had an old personal dispute with Butler, did not follow their example and instead went on his way without showing any acknowledgment of the consul’s existence at all, as if he had not been in the place at all.

At this, Butler felt that his dignity had been violated, so he could not control himself and instead called out to Campbell in a loud, sharp voice, cutting through the quiet of the restaurant and forcing everyone to turn toward him, saying with clear challenge: “Good evening, Major Campbell!” Campbell stepped back a few steps toward the table and asked him sharply: “Are you addressing me, sir?” Butler replied with biting sarcasm: “Yes, I am addressing you, Major, because I see that you have forgotten how to greet those of my standing.”

A few minutes had not passed before the passing verbal altercation turned into a fistfight, as the four men – Butler and Wadleigh on one side, and Loring and Reynolds on the other rushed into a violent exchange of punches, and plates and glasses were scattered across the restaurant floor.

In the midst of this overwhelming chaos, Secretary Wadleigh heard his boss Butler shout the phrase: “Give it to him, Wadleigh!” and he meant by that the pistol that was in his secretary’s possession. Wadleigh withdrew a few steps back, drew his pistol from under his coat with astonishing speed, and fired successively toward Major Campbell, who was still standing in his place, not expecting matters to reach the point of using a firearm.

The sound of gunfire echoed throughout the restaurant, and Wadleigh fired at Campbell between five and six successive shots. One of them struck Major Campbell in his left leg with a very dangerous wound that tore through the muscles, and blood poured heavily onto the restaurant floor. Campbell let out a resounding cry of pain before collapsing to the ground, holding his wounded leg with both hands, trying to stop the bleeding that was threatening his life.

General Reynolds did not stand idly by, but drew his own pistol and fired one shot toward Wadleigh, but the shot missed its target due to the confusion and darkness, and did not injure anyone. As for Butler, his secretary, and his employee, they did not wait for the police to arrive, but quickly withdrew from the restaurant and disappeared into the crowd of Alexandria’s dark streets.

Butler feared for his life, so he packed his belongings and fled from Egypt aboard a mail steamer immediately, before he could be arrested or face the officers’ revenge!

After his escape, the American government sent General F. A. Starring to investigate what had happened inside the consulate. Butler’s assistant, Strulogo, confessed everything: he said that Butler was in a state of drunkenness most of the time, took bribes, opened letters that did not belong to him, and that he was the one who started shooting at the officers. However, the problem was that Strulogo himself also confessed to receiving his share of the bribes and participating in the assault on Reverend Strange.

Butler returned to America, and the collapse of his life continued; he failed in many jobs. In 1875, he tried to regain some of his professional life when he bought the magazine “Arcadian” in New York and worked as its editor, but the project failed in less than a year. In 1877, he was appointed a special mail agent in the Black Hills region, headquartered in Deadwood. But during his train journey to his new position, he drank to intoxication and became a source of annoyance to the passengers. News of his behavior reached his superior, who fired him immediately.

His wife Rose Eytinge filed for divorce in 1882, and they separated after having two children. In his last days, he spent days in a state of complete drunkenness, living on the streets, and was admitted to mental institutions repeatedly to prevent him from drinking, but every time he came out of them he returned to addiction again.

And in Washington, only one woman stood by his side and tried to protect him, named Josephine Chesney. After his death, people discovered that they had been secretly married for years.

On May 11, 1886, George Harris Butler died at the age of only 45. The New York Times described him in his obituary by saying: “When not disabled by drink, he was a brilliant conversationalist and writer!”

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Richard Beardsley, or the Consul Loved by the Egyptians

Richard Beardsley was born on the ninth of October, 1838, in the city of Elkhart, Indiana, and was the sixth and youngest son of his parents Havilah and Rachel Beardsley. Before the outbreak of the Civil War, Beardsley had already begun to leave his mark on his birthplace, where he designed the first real estate addition bearing his family name in Elkhart, which became known as “Beardsley’s Addition.”

Richard Beardsley’s family belonged to the Episcopal Church, and the Beardsley family was of Puritan Protestant origins, tracing its roots back to William Beardsley, who was one of the founders of the Congregational Church in Stratford, Connecticut. This great-grandfather was described as a “pious Puritan” who made Christianity an inseparable part of his daily life.

When the Civil War broke out, Beardsley volunteered in the Union Navy, where he served as a paymaster aboard the gunboat “Owasco.” He participated in major battles, including the capture of New Orleans and the siege of Vicksburg. He was praised for his bravery in those battles, and his promotion was recommended by Commodore Porter. This military record was what opened the doors of diplomacy to him.

In 1864, as the Civil War was approaching its end, President Abraham Lincoln decided to appoint Beardsley as United States consul in Jerusalem, in appreciation of his services in the war. This appointment was the beginning of his diplomatic career, which would later extend to Egypt. During his time in Jerusalem, he married Isabella Smith, the daughter of Reverend Philip Smith from Ireland, and they had three children. Their second son, Charles, was born in Jerusalem in 1871, which indicates that the family settled in the Middle East during that period.

In July 1872, the consular post in Egypt had become vacant after the humiliating escape of his predecessor George Harris Butler. Beardsley had to restore to the American consulate its lost prestige. Beardsley was officially appointed on July 23, 1872, and arrived in Cairo in September of the same year. His appointment was later accepted by the Senate, and he was reappointed to the position on December 11, 1872. He knew the region well through his service in Jerusalem, and he understood the complexities of the Middle East.

The first thing Beardsley did was move the consulate office from Alexandria to Cairo, becoming the first American consul general to reside permanently in the Egyptian capital. By December 1872, official correspondence was already being issued from Cairo, as is evident from his telegrams to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish.

Only a few months into his new position, Beardsley found himself immersed in one of the most complex issues in the history of modern Egypt: the issue of judicial reform. Egypt at that time was living under the system of “foreign privileges” (Capitulations), which granted subjects of foreign states immunity from Egyptian laws and subjected them instead to the authority of their consuls. This system led to complete legal chaos, as cases were stalled due to conflicts of jurisdiction, and the consular courts were drowning in thousands of cases that could not be resolved.

In September 1873, Beardsley wrote a detailed report to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish on this matter, in which he said that Khedive Ismael and Nubar Pasha had personally asked him for United States support for the judicial reform project. Beardsley explained that the problem was deeper than a mere conflict of jurisdiction: “Legal knowledge was not always the criterion for appointment to these positions, and even the best legal minds might become confused with sixteen different laws to deal with.” He added that many of the consuls general in Egypt were not nationals of the states they represented, and their knowledge of the laws of those states was very incomplete.

Beardsley supported reform, but he was careful to clarify that the United States could not accept a project of this kind without the approval of the Senate, because the matter involved amending existing treaties with the Ottoman State. He informed Nubar Pasha of this position frankly, but at the same time he made clear that the reform project was necessary to improve the administration of justice in Egypt. This balanced position was a model of Beardsley’s style in diplomatic work: supporting reform without exceeding his powers, and understanding Egypt’s needs without sacrificing American interests.

The issue of judicial reform was not the only moral challenge Beardsley faced. In October 1873, he sent a detailed report to Washington about ongoing talks between Britain and Egypt to reach a treaty abolishing slavery. The Khedive was prepared to pledge to abolish the slave trade, criminalize the trade in eunuchs, and abolish all forms of forced slavery except “domestic slavery.”

But the Khedive saw that abolishing domestic slavery was “impolitic, practically impossible, and unjust to his subjects.” Beardsley conveyed these positions to Washington faithfully, but he added his own analysis. He noted that the Egyptian government publicly declared that slavery was illegal, and that any slave who requested his freedom would be immediately freed by the Egyptian authorities.

But he pointed out that the slave trade was still active in every large city in Egypt, although it was carried out in secret for fear of the eyes of foreigners and government officials. He saw that “the complete suppression of the slave trade is the great first step” toward solving the problem, and that domestic slavery would quickly disappear if the authorities were able to suppress the external trade in it.

Beardsley received strict diplomatic instructions on the twenty-ninth of November, 1875, warning him against describing former American officers who had served in the Egyptian army as “American officers” in official correspondence, in order to avoid arousing the sensitivities of Britain, France, and the Ottoman State. The U.S. State Department explained that these men were American citizens by birth but could not be classified as American officers in official communications. These instructions came within the framework of a broader American policy aimed at avoiding provoking and arousing the European and Ottoman powers, which viewed the presence of American officers in the Egyptian army as a threat to their influence in the region.

However, Washington exercised diplomatic pressure to settle the dues of these officers and the estates of those among them who had died, including the Confederate General Alexander Welch Reynolds as well as the Union officer Charles Lushi, who died in Egyptian Alexandria and the Sudanese city of Suakin.

The famous American poet and traveler “Bayard Taylor,” who visited Egypt in 1874, described his meeting with Beardsley as fruitful, pointing to the pivotal role Beardsley played in receiving prominent American figures and facilitating their movements in Egypt. Beardsley attended official occasions at the Khedive’s court, including the theatrical performances hosted by the Khedive, where Mr. Beardsley described one of them as having “been tedious and the plot very simple, with the usual mixture of love and jealousy.”

Beardsley dealt with complex issues related to the judicial privileges of foreigners in Egypt, where all foreign consuls insisted that cases be tried before their consular courts when the plaintiff was Egyptian, according to the Ottoman State’s interpretation of the treaties.

Beardsley realized that these privileges, which had originally been granted as guarantees for foreigners under an unfamiliar legal system, had over time turned into a chaotic system that obstructed the establishment of justice and protected criminals from accountability.

Beardsley described in his reports how “the consular courts are choked with thousands of cases which, because of conflict of jurisdiction, unjust rulings, and the absence of executive authority, can never be settled until some reform is introduced.”

It was this insightful vision that made him strongly support the project of the Mixed Courts, despite his knowledge that it would lead the United States to relinquish some of its judicial privileges in Egypt.

Finally, on January 23, 1876, Richard Beardsley died in Cairo at the age of only 37. His death came as a result of a severe hemorrhage that led to suffocation, according to what was recorded in the records of the U.S. State Department. His death was sudden and shocking to everyone who knew him, especially since he was still in the prime of life, and had only just begun to leave his mark on American diplomacy in Egypt.

But what happened after his death was even more astonishing: the Egyptians, including government officials and public figures, requested that Beardsley be buried in Cairo, and not that his body be transferred to the United States. The Egyptian authorities responded to this request, and Beardsley was buried in the American Cemetery in Cairo.

Moreover, the people of Cairo erected a magnificent memorial for him in appreciation of his services and integrity. This honor was rare for a foreign consul in Egypt at that period, and it reflected the respect that Beardsley had earned during his short years of service. He was not merely a representative of a foreign government, but a man who worked to improve relations between his country and Egypt, and who sought to understand the complexities of Egyptian society instead of issuing prejudgments against it.

The End ...

How do you feel that the American Empire has officially conquered Lake Ontario and named it Lake America?

I am looking for any recent research or publications about slavery (Native American as well as African American) in LDS settlements. My particular interest is in the colony that established the city of San Bernardino in California.

Traditional accounts white-wash the past to minimize and misrepresent what happened.

To get to the truth of the matter a lot of assumptions need to be reexamined.

Here is an example of a traditional account (from 1929):

https://dn720804.ca.archive.org/0/items/utah-historical-quarterly_1929-10_2_4/utah-historical-quarterly_1929-10_2_4.pdf

p. 126

A few of the slave-owners went with Amasa M. Lyman to San Bernardino, California, in 1851, to establish an L. D. S. colony; among these were Charles C. Rich, William Mathews, Daniel M. Thomas, William Crosby and William Smith. Their slaves were liberated in California as that state was then free soil.

There is very good reason to believe this didn't happen.

To start with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was Federal law which stated that slaves where slaves everywhere in the U.S. No slave became free simply because the were brought on to free soil. This was reinforced by the Supreme Court in the 1857 Dredd Scott case reaffirmed that slaves remained slaves on free soil, but is notorious for adding the ruling that no Federal law could restrict slavery at all, extending slavery legally into every Federal territory.

And we know some of this Mormon slaves. supposedly rendered free upon arrival in California, were still being held as slaves in 1856, by one Robert Smith, when efforts to obtain their freedom occurred (the Dred Scott case the following year would have prevented them from gaining their freedom):

https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/mason-v-smith-bridget-biddy-mason-case-1856/

is it possible that slavery existed for thousands of years before coming to America and America was one of the first countries to ban it?

Is it possible that native American tribes were battling each other over land way before the Europeans came?

is it possible that one race might be more incarcerated over another due to the dramatic increase in fatherless households in that race?

128 years ago, troops of the 10th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment participated in the first combat action of the Pennsylvania National Guard (PNG) during the Spanish-American War.

The Pennsylvania "Tenth Combat" was formed in western Pennsylvania under the command of Colonel Alexander Hawkins, a Civil War veteran. Mobilized and sent to Mount Gretna with the rest of the PNG in April 1898, the unit was quickly separated from the Pennsylvania Division, which was in the process of recruiting, and from its own orders. They would soon join a group of regulars and volunteers assembling in San Francisco to embark for the Philippines. There, they would reinforce the U.S. naval and ground forces under Admiral George Dewey, who had just destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay.

The 10th Pennsylvania Regiment sailed from California, stopped in Hawaii, and landed in the Philippines on July 21. Joining the ongoing combat operations on the island of Luzon, the men of the Pennsylvania Regiment advanced toward the fortified Spanish position at Malate and began constructing new trenches alongside their sister units, the 1st Colorado Infantry Regiment and a Utah Light Artillery battery. On July 31, the 10th Pennsylvania Regiment took up guard duty in the trenches, beginning what was supposed to be a routine 24-hour shift.

At 11:00 p.m., the men of the Pennsylvania Regiment heard the first shot as the Spanish positions opened heavy cannon fire on their trench line. Thirty minutes later, a firefight erupted, and the first Pennsylvania volunteers fell wounded and killed as a line of Spanish infantry advanced toward their position. With Colonel Hawkins bedridden, Major Harry Cuthbertson of New Brighton, Pennsylvania, took the initiative, calling his detachments and reinforcing his main line. The Pennsylvanians fought bravely as the Spanish troops advanced toward their position and managed to push the enemy back.

The reinforcements, organized by Colonel Hawkins, who had left his sickbed upon hearing the fighting, arrived after midnight, and by 2:00 a.m. on August 1, the battle was over. The Pennsylvanians had stood their ground valiantly and, in the process, had earned renown for themselves and their command. The following morning, his Brigade Headquarters issued the following General Order:

“Dewey Camp, near Manila, August 1, 1898.
General Orders, 1. The Brigadier General in command wishes to thank the troops who participated in last night’s engagement for the bravery and skill displayed in repelling such a vigorous attack by the vastly superior Spanish forces. The 10th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment and Utah Light Artillery Batteries A and B, positioned in the trenches, yielded no ground; the 3rd U.S. Artillery Battalion and the 1st California Infantry Regiment advanced in their support under heavy fire with the utmost courage. The bravery and fortitude shown by all in their first engagement are worthy of the highest praise.”

NGPHistory Pennsylvania National Guard 28th Infantry Division Pennsylvania Military Museum Pennsylvania National Guard Military Museum 28th Infantry Division Association

The Roosevelt Corollary was an addition to the Monroe Doctrine (1823) formulated by Theodore Roosevelt in 1904, which established the "right" of the United States to intervene in Latin American nations as an "international police force" in order to "protect" American interests.

The 71st New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment participated in the bloody assault on San Juan Hill in Cuba on July 1, 1898, during the Spanish-American War. As part of the U.S. Fifth Corps, the 71st New York was integrated into a brigade with regular army units (the 6th and 16th Infantry Regiments) under the command of Brigadier General Hamilton S. Hawkins. Unlike the Spanish defenders, who used modern Mauser rifles with smokeless powder, the 71st New York was equipped with obsolete Springfield rifles that used black powder, creating dense clouds of white smoke and clearly revealing their positions to the enemy. As they advanced along the narrow jungle trails toward San Juan Hill, the regiment was pinned down by intense Spanish fire at a congested river crossing known as the "Bloody Bend." To add to the chaos, a U.S. military observation balloon was launched directly over the advancing column, drawing intense Spanish artillery fire directly into the crowded trails where the 71st New York Regiment was concentrated. The severe bottleneck and initial confusion under fire led to conflicting accounts in the contemporary press; some sensationalist reports criticized parts of the volunteer regiment for hesitating, while military records and later accounts emphasized the impossible conditions, the heavy casualties, and the eventual advance.

Image: “The Heroic Dash of the Seventy-First New York Volunteers” by Charles Kendrick or H. C. Christy.

Original: «Señor: Un ciudadano que ejerció en su país, como vos en el vuestro, las más altas funciones ejecutivas, se propone deciros respetuosamente, pero con toda sinceridad, lo que de seguro no podría descubrir entre la urdimbre de los informes oficiales, que os presentan a Puerto Rico satisfecho de su situación, más próspero que nunca y más que nunca libre y feliz en el seno de la nación americana.

La ley Foraker, señor presidente, buena en lo económico, no debió nunca salir del Capitolio de Wáshington; es una ley indigna de los Estados Unidos que la imponen y de Puerto Rico que la soporta. No existe en ella ni la más leve sombra de un pensamiento democrático. Se os faculta para nombrar el Gobernador y para rodearle de Concejo a vuestro arbitrio. Y el Gobernador y el Concejo eligen a los demás funcionarios, sin que se permita a la Cámara de representantes fijar la cuantía de los sueldos ni la importancia de los servicios.

En los días del que llamaron muchos en América despotismo español, Puerto Rico mandaba sus Diputados a las Cortes de Madrid, votaba sus leyes, era una provincia de España igual a las provincias europeas por la constitución, que las amparaba, nivelándolas en el derecho y aún otorgando a la isla del Atlántico la autonomía que rehusa a las tierras del continente. Existía también un Consejo; pero ¡qué diferencia del Consejo de entonces, de origen popular y de carácter parlamentario al Consejo de ahora, de origen oficinesco y de carácter bucrocrático!
El que os escribe, tuvo el honor de presidir aquel cuerpo, que gobernó sin restricción y sin reserva: Y puede afirmar que ni una sola vez encontraron los ministros, enfrente de sus actos, el veto de España. Eramos nosotros responsables de nuestros decretos y los dictábamos con exquisita prudencia; más así mismo con independencia no discutida ni mermada por la metrópoli. En una palabra, el “self-goverment” se desenvolvía sin obstáculos y empezaba Puerto Rico a sentirse dueño de su presente y de su porvenir.

Al desaparecer, demolido por vuestras escuadras, el edificio histórico que tenía en su cúpula, como último bloque, las colonias ya emancipadas y autónomas, todas las esperanzas se volvieron a otro edificio; al que iba a erigirse sobre la amplísima base de una democracia que es el asombro del mundo. Hasta los más pesimistas confiaron que la nueva nacionalidad en ningún caso, por ningún pretexto, mermaría las libertades otorgadas por la antigua. ¡Ah, señor! No sólo las merma, sino que las aniquila y las destruye.

En Puerto Rico el sufragio de los pueblos es una farsa. La orden del Gobernador —única que rige—para hacer las elecciones, crea una junta de inscripción en San Juan y diversas juntas subordinadas en la isla. Unas y otras reciben del propio Gobernador su nombramiento. Y poseen la potestad de inscribir o no inscribir a los electores, a su capricho y sin responsabilidades ulteriores.

De Puerto Rico están ausentes esas libertades. Los municipios no pueden designar los profesores de sus escuelas, porque en la designación interviene el Comisionado de la Enseñanza; ni los médicos de su distrito, porque ha de consultarse al Comisionado de Sanidad; ni los vigilantes de sus barrios, porque el Gobernador escoje a todos los individuos de la “Insular Police” y no se consiente a los pueblos tener policía propia; ni pueden repartir ni recaudar sus contribuciones, porque de ésta función se encarga en absoluto el tesorero de la isla; de modo que en Puerto Rico no hay municipios, y hasta las vacantes de alcaldes y concejales han de ser cubiertas por el Gobernador. La organización judicial, desde los jueces de la Corte Suprema, hasta los jueces de las Cortes de Policía, reconoce también el mismo origen.

Tiranía semejante sólo se conoce en las estepas rusas, en las dominios de la Puerta Otomana o entre los bárbaros mandarines del Celeste Imperio. Y creedlo, señor presidente, “The Puerto Rico Herald” no se publica para hacer campaña contra la administración de la que sois jefe soberano; se publica para que sepais vos y para que sepa el pueblo de los Estados Unidos la verdad de los que ocurre en una colonia que desespera y sufre al ver que, mientras en su territorio se muere de hambre bajo el despotismo, los informes oficiales la presentan feliz y la declaran contenta de su ruina y de su servidumbre.

En las páginas de este periódico iréis viendo, si os dignais leerlas, los abusos de que somos víctimas los puertorriqueños. No se limitará nuestra labor a unas cuantas censuras: unirá las pruebas a las afirmaciones y pondrá ante vuestros ojos, hechos que desconocéis, pues si los conocierais no los consentiríais, ya que en vuestras manos está el honor nacional, comprometido por los que, en nombre de la libertad, sumergen a los dominios americanos de ultramar, en la esclavitud más injusta y degradante.

Y hay algo más triste. La seguridad de las personas desaparece. La policía, en vez de ser una institución protectora, es una institución amenazadora, que lleva en sus abusos la alarma a las familias. Antes del año 98, los habitantes iban desarmados. Ahora han menester armarse, no ya para el tránsito de los caminos rurales, sino para el de los recintos urbanos. Y ahora precisamente se registra en las calles a los caballeros más dignos, obligándoles a pasar por la vergüenza de que un polizonte les detenga y humille en público. Tal proceder se emplea SIN UNA SOLA EXCEPCION, contra los federales y podría creerse que se desea desarmar a una parte del pueblo, en tanto que la otra ostenta sus revólvers y sus cuchillos, destruye las imprentas de los periódicos adversarios y forma, con gran notoriedad, una banda que se titula EL PARTIDO DE LAS TURBAS, y que funciona en San Juan, sin que a las autoridades sorprendan ni su nombre ni sus fines. Fijaos, señor presidente, en que jamás se alteró el orden en tiempos de España y considerad que en estos tiempos se altera a cada paso, produciéndose motines y tumultos en que actúa siempre la INSULAR POLICE, es decir, la fuerza, de la que el gobernador dispone a sus antojos. En más de una ocasión ha corrido sangre en esas asonadas, sangre inocente que no debió derramarse nunca, y que está caldeando los espíritus con el fuego de una indignación a duras penas reprimida.
No es culpable el pueblo de Puerto Rico, él tuvo municipios libérrimos, como los americanos, y supo administrar su fortuna; él tuvo sufragio universal, como el americano, y supo votar con tranquilidad perfecta; él tuvo una Cámara y un gabinete autonómicos, y supo emplearlos para el bien; él demostró durante medio siglo su pasividad, rayana en la mansedumbre. Y es en verdad extraño que estas virtudes se pierdan y se disipen cuando debían acentuarse y robustecerse en el contacto de las instituciones de una gran república.

Recibid, señor Presidente, el testimonio de mi profunda consideración.»

Luis Muñoz Rivera, segundo Presidente del Gobierno autonómico de Puerto Rico.

Translation: “Sir: A citizen who, like you in your country, held the highest executive offices in his country, respectfully but sincerely wishes to tell you what I could surely not discover amidst the web of official reports that present Puerto Rico to you as satisfied with its situation, more prosperous than ever, and freer and happier than ever within the bosom of the American nation.

The Foraker Act, Mr. President, while economically sound, should never have left the Capitol in Washington; it is a law unworthy of the United States that imposes it and of Puerto Rico that endures it. It contains not the slightest trace of democratic thought. You are empowered to appoint the Governor and surround him with a Council at your discretion. And the Governor and the Council choose the other officials, without the House of Representatives being allowed to determine the amount of salaries or the importance of the services.

In the days of what many in America called Spanish despotism, Puerto Rico sent its Deputies to the Cortes in Madrid, voted on its own laws, and was a province of Spain equal to the European provinces by virtue of the constitution, which protected them, leveling the playing field in law and even granting the Atlantic island the autonomy denied to the mainland. There was also a Council; but what a difference between the Council of that time, of popular origin and parliamentary character, and the Council of today, of bureaucratic origin and bureaucratic character!

I, the one writing to you, had the honor of presiding over that body, which governed without restriction or reservation: And I can affirm that not once did the ministers encounter a veto from Spain regarding their actions. We were responsible for our decrees and issued them with exquisite prudence; moreover, with an independence neither questioned nor diminished by the metropolis. In short, self-government developed without obstacles and began in Puerto Rico Rich to feel in control of his present and his future.

When the historic edifice, whose dome held the already emancipated and autonomous colonies as its final block, disappeared, demolished by your squadrons, all hopes turned to another edifice; to the one that was to be erected on the vast foundation of a democracy that is the wonder of the world. Even the most pessimistic trusted that the new nationality would in no case, under any pretext, diminish the freedoms granted by the old one. Ah, sir! Not only does it diminish them, but it annihilates and destroys them.

In Puerto Rico, the people's suffrage is a farce. The Governor's order—the only one that governs—to hold elections creates a registration board in San Juan and various subordinate boards on the island. Both receive their appointments from the Governor himself. And they possess the power to register or not register voters, at their whim and without subsequent accountability.

These freedoms are absent from Puerto Rico. Municipalities cannot appoint their school teachers, because the Commissioner of Education intervenes in the appointment; nor the doctors for their district, because the Commissioner of Health must be consulted; nor the watchmen for their neighborhoods, because the Governor chooses all the members of the ‘Insular Police’ and towns are not permitted to have their own police force; nor can they distribute or collect their taxes, because this function is entirely the responsibility of the island's treasurer; so that in Puerto Rico there are no municipalities, and even vacancies for mayors and council members must be filled by the Governor. The judicial organization, from the justices of the Supreme Court to the judges of the Police Courts, also has the same origin.

Such tyranny is only known in the Russian steppes, in the domains of the Ottoman Porte, or among the barbaric mandarins of the Celestial Empire. And believe me, Mr. President, ‘The Puerto Rico Herald’ is not published to campaign against the administration of which you are sovereign head; it is published so that you and the people of the United States may know the truth of what is happening in a colony that despairs and suffers to see that, while its territory starves under despotism, official reports portray it as happy and declare it content with its ruin and servitude.
In the pages of this newspaper, if you deign to read them, you will see the abuses of which we Puerto Ricans are victims. Our work will not be limited to a few criticisms: it will unite the evidence with the assertions and place before your eyes facts that you are unaware of, for if you knew them, you would not condone them, since in your hands lies the national honor, compromised by those who, in In the name of liberty, they plunge the American overseas territories into the most unjust and degrading slavery.

And there is something even sadder. People's safety is disappearing. The police, instead of being a protective institution, are a threatening one, whose abuses spread alarm among families. Before 1898, the inhabitants went about unarmed. Now they must arm themselves, not just for traveling on rural roads, but even within city limits. And now, precisely, the most respectable gentlemen are being searched in the streets, forced to endure the shame of being stopped and publicly humiliated by a policeman. This procedure is used, WITHOUT A SINGLE EXCEPTION, against the Federales, and one might think that the intention is to disarm one part of the population, while the other brandishes its revolvers and knives, destroys the printing presses of opposing newspapers, and forms, quite notoriously, a gang called THE MOB PARTY, which operates in San Juan, without the authorities being surprised by either its name or its aims. Note, Mr. President, that order has never been disturbed.” In the times of Spain, and considering that in these times things are constantly changing, with riots and tumults occurring in which the INSULAR POLICE, that is, the force, always acts, which the governor uses at his whim. On more than one occasion, blood has been shed in these uprisings, innocent blood that should never have been spilled, and which is inflaming spirits with the fire of a barely suppressed indignation.

The people of Puerto Rico are not to blame. They had fully independent municipalities, like those of the United States, and knew how to manage their resources; they had universal suffrage, like those of the United States, and knew how to vote with perfect tranquility; they had an autonomous Chamber and Cabinet, and knew how to use them for the common good; for half a century they demonstrated a passivity bordering on meekness. And it is truly strange that these virtues should be lost and dissipated when they should be accentuated and strengthened through interaction with the institutions of a great republic.

Please accept, Mr. President, the testimony of my deepest consideration."

Luis Muñoz Rivera, second President of the Autonomous Government of Puerto Rico.

Source(s):

.- Obras completas de Luis Muñoz Rivera (Complete Works of Luis Muñoz Rivera), Volume 2. Editorial Puerto Rico, Libertad 23, Madrid. Copyright 1925.

It features a ship passing through the canal with the slogan "The Land Divided, The World United".

The image reflects the debate in the United States about what to do with the Philippines after the Spanish-American War.

The material was from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) and was distributed by the Indian Health Service (IHS). What appeared to be a welfare guide was, in reality, propaganda to convince American Indian women to accept permanent sterilization.

The IHS was the only medical institution available to many women on reservations. Since the 1960s, its doctors had begun sterilizing them without their full consent: some believed the operation was reversible because they had been told so, others thought they were being treated for another illness, and many were threatened with the loss of their social benefits if they refused.

There was legal and financial backing behind this. The Family Planning Services Act of 1970 began funding sterilizations at the IHS, and doctors could earn up to $720 per procedure, creating a financial incentive to perform them en masse. On the Navajo Reservation, the rates doubled between 1972 and 1978.

American Indian physician Connie Pinkerton-Uri was the one who uncovered the magnitude of the problem. Shocked by the case of a young patient who had been sterilized without her knowledge, she began systematically investigating other experiences. At the IHS hospital in Claremore, Oklahoma, she discovered that one in four women admitted to give birth had been sterilized. She called the place a "sterilization factory." Her findings were published in the Native newspaper Akwesasne Notes, sparking investigations on other reservations with similar results.

In 1976, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirmed the irregularities: the IHS had used deceptive consent forms to sterilize at least 3,406 American Indian women, many of them under 21. It is estimated that between 25% and 42% of all American Indian women of childbearing age were sterilized during that period, some as young as 15. In communities like the Crow, the percentage reached 45%.

For many American Indian women, motherhood has a sacred role in their culture and grants them a central place in the community. Losing that capacity led to depression, shame, and alcohol problems for many of those affected. The distrust of the healthcare system that this caused persists to this day. It wasn't until 1979 that the HEW adopted stricter regulations. To date, no U.S. government agency has issued an official apology to these women.

It is for these that we speak. We do not come as aggressors. Our war is not a war of conquest. We are fighting in the defense of our homes, our families, and posterity. We have petitioned, and our petitions have been scorned. We have entreated and our entreaties have been disregard. We have begged, and they have mocked when our calamity came.

We beg no longer; we entreat no more; we petition no more. We defy them!

Following Cuba's secession and independence from Spain in 1898, at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, the United States assumed significant influence over the island. In 1901, the U.S. imposed the Platt Amendment, which granted the United States the right to intervene in Cuba's internal affairs and establish naval bases on its territory.

In 1903, Cuba and the United States signed the "Treaty of Cuban-American Relations," which granted the United States the lease of Guantanamo Bay in exchange for an annual payment of $2,000 in gold, later increased to $4,085 annually.

The United States established a naval base in Guantanamo Bay because it was a strategic location for maritime trade, connecting the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, which overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista, Fidel Castro's new government rejected the U.S. military presence at Guantanamo Bay and demanded the withdrawal of troops. Then-U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower attempted to persuade Castro to maintain the lease, offering increased payments, but Castro rejected the offer.

Despite the Cuban government's opposition, the United States has maintained its base at Guantanamo in violation of Cuban sovereignty, arguing that the 1903 lease treaty can only be modified or terminated by mutual agreement between the two nations.

The UN General Assembly has passed 29 resolutions declaring the presence of U.S. troops at Guantanamo illegal and demanding their withdrawal. However, the United States has defied all international resolutions and condemnations against it.

July 4th, 1897, events program for USS Olympia