South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1882.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2915, 29 July 1882, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1882.

The eyes of all the world are now concentrated upon Egypt with peculiar intensity, though it has always commanded considerable attention, and has never been left out of the calculation of English statesmen. There is no class of observant persons for whom Egypt is not an object of interest. The historian finds the land of the Pharoahs and Ptolemies fertile in its annals ; the antiquarian finds here boundless fields for research ; the statesman knows it (and values it accordingly) aa the very gate of the African Continent, and as commanding the most expeditious route between Europe and India. As many of our readers will be glad of some information about this laud which may enable them to follow more easily the progress of events there, we propose to place before them some historical and geographical particulars of it and afterwards to endeavor to show them the present political aspect of the Egyptian question. A glance at the map will show that Egypt forms the northeastern corner of Africa ; that it is divided from Arabia by a csnal, and therefore easily accessible from Turkey ; that the Red Sea leads immediately from its • shores to the Indian Ocean ; that its northern coast is washed by the “ blue Mediterranean,” the great highway of commerce. Even so cursory a glance at the position of Egypt must suffice to show that a nation whose dependencies lie all over the world, whose richest dependency is easily reached by way of Egyptian 'territory, mast at all hazards, in self defence, hold control of this awkward comer. Need it he said that it is Great Britain which is thus forced to perpetual vigilance and solicitude ? That Egypt should now be the theatre of stirring events is, indeed, not wonderful or at variance with her past history. Her name is almost a synonym for antiquity. In the long procession of the ages, Egypt has always been the scene of great, often stirring, events. She was the very cradle of science and learning; the most conspicuous achievements of warfare and statesmanship have been performed within her boundaries. There never was a land in all the world in which grander deeds were performed, or in which the people derived less benefit from them. Poor and stagnant they were, poor and stagnant they seem destined to remain. They have been torn by contending conquerors, and plundered by successive rulers, from time immemorial. Of commerce they know nothing, of skill and enterprise they are utterly destitute. The implements of husbandry in use thousands of years ago are used now—the ideas of a thousand years ago are the ideas of to-day. The ancient Egyptians whom Herodotus so graphically describes, had a religion which was mostly mythological, the chief object of their adoration being their famous river, the Nile. Their dry earth on which rain never fell, depended for revival upon the overflow of the great river. On that periodical occurrence hung all their hopes. Waiting for it they gave themselves up to dreamy adoration ; there was nothing to stimulate them. Bountiful Nature did all, and they waited respectfully upon her movements. When at length the time of refreshing came upon the land, they arose and gathered in, in the oldfashioned way, their store, and again lay down to rest. Their rulers might have visions of conquest and a spirit of enterprise. That was their concern ; the people had no part or lot with such ambitious ideas ; their living was within their reach and came to them with unvarying regularity. The Government was nothing to them ; if it

oppressed them, well they bore it in silence, for they were too feeble to resist. It will be understood that a country peopled by so effeminate, or rather so spiritless, a race was quite at the mercy of warlike and turbulent neighbors. And in due course the Turks, a fierce race, fired by the religion of the Prophet, made their appearance under Sultan Selim on Egyptian territory to gain proselytes and acquire dominion. Egypt speedily became a mere appanage of Turkey, and her people sunk deeper into insignificance than ever. The rule of Turkey was the pitiless, selfish grinding of a tyrant. The resources of the country were fearfully strained, the people were overtaxed, the country wholly paralysed. The record of Turkish dominion is a record of cruelty, misrule, and corruption, for the natural savagery of the Turkish nature was rather intensified by the fanatical religion which now completely governed it. The Arabs swarmed in, and the poor Egyptians were pushed aside and became mere helots in their own country. Their rulers divided the land into districts and let out the farming of them to the highest bidder, that is to say, in return for a certain sum of ready money advanced to the Government, a man had handed over to him a district over which he was granted supreme power, and out of which he was to pay himself as best he could. The poor inhabitants therefore got scant mercy from the rapacious pasha. The greatest ruler of modern time in Egypt was the Albanian, Mehemet Ali, who about 1765 assumed control. At this time Egypt was reduced to beggary and a pitiful state of demoralisation by corruption and misrule. The sole principle of government that had been applied by Turkey was, apparently, to obtain the maximum of labor from the peasant in return for the minimum of sustenance. Mehemet was something of a statesman in his way, though despotic in the extreme. He certainly believed in the State being the sole landlord, for he seized all the lands and granted the former proprietors pensions. He was, however, a vigorous and far-sighted ruler, and his ideas, had he had a peaceful reign in which to carry them into execution, would have infused a new spirit into the emasculated Egyptian community. But there were turbulent spirits around him. The Arab chiefs gave him endless trouble, and rebellions and conspiracies were constantly occurring. The next remarkable ruler of Egypt was Ismail, the Khedive. This man was so impregnated with European views, that in addition to following in the footsteps of his great predecessor, Mehemet Ali, he struck out a new line of improvement. He welcomed foreigners, encouraged and initiated public works, and changed the face of the' country. Mehemet Ali had always regarded the maintenance of a standing array as of the utmost importance, and Ismail was not behind him in vigorous measures in this direction. Under so energetic and powerful a ruler, the Egyptian people might have developed into something of a self-reliant nation. But the fell shadow of Turkey lay across them, and the influence of Turkey seemed to enfeeble them.

A country with such a history as this, could not fail to become what it has been for centuries past, a sort of neutral territory, or point of departure for wanderers, traders, and vagabonds of every creed and color. In the bazaars and streets of Alexandria and Cairo, there are to be met Jews, Turks and Arabs, Greeks and Gauls, Spaniards and Negroes, Moors and Italians. And through the port there has, for centuries past, been a stream of wanderers passing outward towards the Indies, and a stream of returning voyagers passing back again to the various ports of Europe. A country so circumstanced, so situated, and so feeble, could not fail, it must be obvious, to be open always to any powerful invader who for ulterior reasons might choose to occupy her. And those who are chiefly interested in keeping free the passage through Egypt to their distant possessions, are also chiefly interested in maintaining her internal tranquility. But this brings us to the point from which wo propose to start in placing before our readers a view of the political aspect of the present crisis ; and we must reserve all mention of it for a future article.