The Democratic Eastern Federation and the Poems of Ossian: Egypt

The founder of the Democratic Eastern Federation and main translator of "The Poems of Ossian", Panayiotis Panas, was born in the British Protectorate of Kephalonia, in the Seven Islands. In 1865, after the uniting of the Seven Island to Greece, Panas went to Alexandria where he published a book of poetry entitled "Memnon" which included an extract from "The Poems of Ossian". This prose poetry, written by the Scottish scholar James Macpherson, contains tales based on Celtic values in the art of combat against usurpation and despotism, led by Ossian and his magnanimous warriors. "Memnon" was circulated to various towns along the Nile including Zagazig, near to where Colonel Ahmad Arabi, a fellah, and leader of the Egyptian revolution, was born. Arabi began the Egyptian revolution after 1878, when the Treaty of Berlin was being discussed by the Great Powers: Egypt was on the agenda. Similar to Panas's colleagues who helped Halim Pasha, Pretender to the throne, under threat from Ismail, to escape from Alexandria in 1866, two residents in Egypt William Blunt and Lady Augusta Gregory would also give their full support to Arabi in 1882. A fierce opponent of British Imperialism, and firm believer in the liberation of the Egyptian people, William S. Blunt, a former diplomat and poet, known as the Byron of Egypt ? his wife was Byron's granddaughter - believed that Arabi was the best leader to secure Egypt's freedom. Lady Gregory, an Irish scholar and wife of an English diplomat would save Arabi from execution by the English. Both Blunt and Lady Gregory wrote works based on Oisin from the Irish in Ireland, where Blunt was imprisoned by the English in 1888. Was Egypt connected to the Democratic Eastern Federation?