Evening Post. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1917. BRITAIN'S POLICY IN EGYPT

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 28, 1 February 1917, Page 6

Evening Post. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1917. BRITAIN'S POLICY IN EGYPT

Forty years ago a statesman, ■whose Imperialism was often suspected because he declined to identify it with. Jingoism and sow in further territorial expansion a real danger to an already unwieldy Empire, published a remarkable prophecy regarding the of British intervention in Egypt. "Territorial questions," wrote Gladstone in 1877, "are not to be disposed of by arbitrary limits; we cannot enjoy the luxury of taking Egyptian soil by pinches. We may seize an Aden and a Perim, where is no already formed community of inhabitants, and. circumscribe a tract at will. But our first, site in Egypt, be it by larceny or be it by eniptipn, will be, the almost certain egg of a North African Empire, that will grow and grow until- another "Victoria and another Albert, titles of the lake sources of the White Nile, come within our borders, and till we finally join hands across the equator with Natal and Capetown, to say nothing of the .Transvaal and the Orange River in. the south, or of Abyssinia and Zanzibar to be-swallowed by way of viaticum on our journey." The irony of fate has enjoyed a singular triumph over the author of this ironical prophecy, for within a few ye.au lie had become its unwilling instrument in leading his country over the first stages of the march towards the goal which he detested. After struggling for a, while with the impossible system of a. dual control by France and Britain which his predecessor had established for the government of Egypt, Gladstone's hand was forced by the march of events. The great peace advocate was compelled in 1882 to bombard Alexandria, and after the suppression of Arabi, Pasha's rebellion the withdrawal of France left Britain an undivided responsibility and a free hand. The way was cleared for the very piocess which Gladstone hadi depicted in liis satirical forecast. A temporary occupation of Egypt by Great Britain began, which has continued ever since, and has become indistinguishable from a formal permanence as the result of a war for which another peace-loving Government is responsible. Even the shadow of Turkey's suzerainty was no longer possible after her declaration of war on the Allies.

Yet if Gladstone were with us tcj-day it is impossible to suppose that he would not find in Egypt liberal compensation for' tho wreck of his theories; ■pa itbft»4aaasra,o{ ejsfisnstanj .^WsJjRojR:

in part," says the apostle, "and we prophesy in part." If Gladstone's prophecy was better than his knowledge, if he ever helped to realise prophecy which he was anxious to defeat, he would surely have had no reason to be ashamed of his responsibility for*a policy which has produced one of the most marvellous triumphs of government that the world has over seen. Of the main results of her government of India Britain has good-cause to beproud, but it has been a chequered story. It has had its ups and its downs, its blunders and its crimes as well as its glories. "I do most 'confidently maintain," said Sir G. C. Lewis, a man accustomed to weigh his words, "that no civilised Government ever existed on the face of this earth which was more corrupt, more perSdious, and more capricious than the East India Company was from 1758 to 1784, when it was placed under Parliamentary control." Warren Hastings was certainly not guilty of all the wickedness that was laid to his charge by the "sleepless humanity" and the fierce eloquence of Burke, nor was Clive the monster that his enemies loved to paint. But it would be absurd\to deny that there was a deal of vicious alloy mingled with the pure gold of the service rendered to the Empire by those two great men. No such alloy debases the v work which has made modern Egypt, nor has there been any set-off to the excellence of the administration in blunders which, from the standpoint of statesmanship, are sometimes worse than crimes.

It js to the.great man whose death was reported yesterday that this magnificent result is due. The task of which, as Sir Evelyn Baring, he took charge in 1883, was surely as Eopeless a business as ever confronted an administrator. The country which had been misgoverned, robbed, and oppressed for centuries was then to all appearance at its last gasp 'of poverty and exhaustion, Finance and every department of the administration was \in a. state of chaos, and to the normal difficulties of such a position- there were added for the new rulers the special handicaps of a divided jurisdiction, an alien language and nationality, and a religion which was anathema to practically all the native .population. All these difficulties hadl to be overcome .without the aid of an omnipotent army, and without even the possibility of effecting a clean sweep of the civil administration, and thus ■making a. fresh start.- Infinite patience and courage, tact and tenacity, had to bo combined with, administrative and financial genius oi the highest order if success was to be possible in this desperate task; but all these qualities were forthcoming in the man who, with no higher official title than that of British Agent and Consul-General, took up the work, and in twenty-four years of arduous and uninterrupted labour saw it through.

It is interesting to note that one who afterwards put first among his 'golden, rules for the government of Europe that we should not be m a hurry was at first supposed, even by his friends, not to have patience enough for an undertaking which demanded, among other things, all the virtue of a Job. This apprehension was expressed at the time in a clever epigram: — '

The virtues of Patience ara known, But I think that, when put to the test,The people of Egypt will own, with a

groan, There's un Evil in Baring too much. But Sir Evelyn Baring had evidently mastered himself before he set out to master Egypt. If we may be allowed to say so,' he ceased to be overbearing, and thus attained a double victory. An absolutely fearless and inflexible justice was perhaps the quality that contributed most to his success." "Black is their creed, 1' said a \ Moslem of the English, "but pure and blameless is their justice." It, had been stated by one of .Lord Cromer's predecessors in the government of Egypt that "water and justice" were the two things that the country needed. Lord Cromer supplied it with both, and made both as cheap and as sure for the poor as for the rich.

'.'The British," said one of the fellaheen, "have protected me from tyrants. Thanks to them, fl pay no taxes which I ought, not to pa.y. My young cotton plants do not. perish for want of water as formerly." The m^n who gave Egypt order instead of chaos, who made the desert blossom like the rose, and who has constructed from the frail substance of alien gratitude a real buttress for the. Empire in its hour of need, is surely entitled to a high place among the great rulers of the world.