The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1911. LORD KITCHENER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 14, 1 September 1911, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1911. LORD KITCHENER.

It is not sit all surprising to find that the appointment of Lord Kitchener as successor to Sir Eldon Gorst in Egypt was being freely discussed in the leading- journals when the last mail loft London. The expected has for once happened, the “Westminster Gazette” thinks, in the announcement that Sir Eldon Gorst’s successor as British Agent and Consul-General in Egypt is Lord Kitchener. The appointment is held to be a good one, which will he justified by the results. Lord Kitchener is not only a great soldier, but an admirable administrator and organiser. More, he has already shown —at Fashoda, and, above all, at \creeninging—that he is a conciliatory and tactful negotiator, and he will have in his new post great scope for exactly the qualities which ho displayed iu dealing with the Boers. A strong man, he is no mere martinet; whilst he is, above all, loyal to the lines of policy laid down for him. The appointment has the unqualified support of the “Times,” which says;— Sir Edward Grey’s emphatic warning and the more active measures for the punishment of Press offences which have been taken within the last year or two have done something to teach the Egyptians the futility and the folly of the “Nationalist” movement iu its present shape. In the East warnings are apt to go unheeded unless they are enforced by outward and visible signs which appeal directly to all classes. The choice of Lord Kitchener as the representative of British authority will bo taken for such a sign, and will at once convince the

masses that we moan to he firm. Ministers doubtless intend to do all that can ho done with prudence to gratify the legitimate aspirations'of the Egyptians, and to train them hy degrees for one day taking a larger share in the' government of Egypt. lint they will not do, or permit to ho done, anything tending to weaken the occupation—which is indispensable in the interests of Egypt as in our own—and they will not bestow upon Egyptians functions for which the latter arc manifestly not yet lifted. That is the general character of the policy which we expect that the now ConsulGeneral will he called upon to put into practice. The “Spectator,” however, is dubious: “We cannot help fooling that the post is not one which should be held hy a soldier. The military experience and high qualities of command possessed by Lord Kitchener eminently fit him for military work, but it cannot bo said that they arc the qualities required by our AgentGeneral in Cairo.” The “Manchester Guardian” is altogether hostile to the appointment on the ground that Lord Kitchener’s experience of Egypt is just that experience which is calculated to make him an unsuitable successor to .Sir Eldon Gorst. “Sir Eldon Gorst’s object was to found a Conservative Nationalist party in

j,y; t, and ho sought to attain it by a:king with the Khedive. His icccss has been considerable it still

acoinplato. lie has shocked intolernt foreigners in Egypt by Ins defor:ic*c to the Court—but, on the other land, the Xationalist party has been

.ve.ikenod and divided, and one wing )f it is a constitutional and possibilist ),;rt 7 ready to work for political jinar.cipation through frank acceptance of the British occupation. This ’.client© situation will almost certain■y bo disturbed, and to our detriment, )y tho appointment of Lord Kitchener.” Tire “Daily Nows” is not within t some misgivings, but it is also rot without hope that Lord Kitchener may ,after all, disappoint the expectations’ of those who think that in tho military hero they' have found tho iron tool which they want to carry out

i firm policy in Egypt:—“Lord Kit- ■ lienor is never an easy -subject for prophecy. Though his successes har e been won in war, they have been ilmost more administrative than militaiy. Ho has undoubted gifts for dealing with men, and a sort of tact, which however peculiar some of its manifestations may be, lias shown itself an effective thing, and sometimes surprisingly elastic thing, as in the negotiations with tho Boer generals, by which he ended the South African War. Members of the Government no doubt had this in mind when they approved the appointment. Lord Kitchener will show liims Q lf a strong man indeed, if lie can go his own way unheeding the unwisdom of ms own would-be backers, and 'iring 1 tg as fresh a mind as he can to bear upon the now problems that await him.”