Taranaki Herald. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1908. EGYPTIAN POLITICS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13636, 15 April 1908, Page 4

Taranaki Herald. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1908. EGYPTIAN POLITICS.

Tlio National party in Egypt, jtlio cables tell us, has protested against Great Britain illegally ur- ! rotating to herself the right to interfere between Uio nation and the Khedive, who alone, the party claims, has the power to accord his people the constitution and the representative legislature they desire. The Nationalists have [long been agitating for a greater nieasure of self-government, and only quite recently a draft scheme for the reorganisation of the Provincial Councils was unofficially laid before the principal executive officials and the members of the Legislative Council. The principal feature of the scheme is the extension of the powers of the Provincial Councils, but it does not go far enough to suit the National party. -. It is altogether unlikely, however, that the British Government will consent to relaxing the hold it has upon the government of Egypt, considering the trouble and expense it has incurred in the last thirty years in enforcing reforms. In June, 1879, the Governments of France

and Grout Britain forced Ismail Pasha to abdicate and appointed his son to succeed him. A few months later a Controller-General was appointed by each Power. In 1882 Arabi Pasha headed a revolt, and, the French Government declining to co-operate, a British expedition was despatched to reestablish the authority of the Khedive. In January, 1883, dual control was abolished by decree, and ever since then Great Britain has been the controlling Power, a position she has maintained in spite of the jealousy of other Powers. Thanks mainly to the great administrative ability of Lord Cromer, who was sent out in 1883, a marvellous change has come over the country, more than justifying Great Britain's policy, and it is not likely that she will run the risk of sacrificing all she has gained by giving way to the demands of a discontented minority of the people of Egypt. In "Modern Egypt," published a few weeks ago, Lord Cromer gives aii account of his stewardship. Describing the condition of the country under Ismail Pasha, he says : —

"Ismail, in his own person, was the State. He disposed of the lives ajid properties of all his subjects. He constituted thp sole and final court of appeal in all affairs, great or small. He administered in porsoTi every department of the State. His will was

law. . . . Ancient tradition and personal interest alike forbade an Egyptian official to question the wisdom of a decision emanating from a ruler ivho could at pleasure dispose of the life find make or mar tho fortune of any one of his subjects. All independence of thought and action was crushed oxtt. Moreover, Ismail Pasha did more than rule. . . . He was the largest landed proprietor in Egypt. ¥\v was the only sugar manufacturer. He was a lar^e shipowner. In fact, he was omnipresent." ' Groat Britain did not want Egypt, but she wanted it to be wellgoverned, and having put her hand to tho plough she has not withdrawn it, and will not until tho Egyptians are fit to govern themselves without her guiding hand. It has cost he^ 1 much in men and money ; it cost her a Gordon ; but the sacrifice has not been in vain, for to-day Egypt's credit is restored, cruelty has,l)een abolished, the Nile harnessed and the land irrigated, and peace reigns. But Egyptian autonomy, an autonomy of Moslem and Christian, European and Asiatic, will take years to achieve, if it ever be achieved. "The skilled labour, the energy, the perseverance of the, British reformers and

their Egyptian allies," says Lord Oroiner, "shall not be thrown away." Weak concession to the National party now would more than likely commence the undoing of all that work.