DEATH OF LORD CROMER

Timaru Herald, Volume CVI, Issue 16184, 31 January 1917, Page 2

DEATH OF LORD CROMER

THE MAKER OF EGYPT, (Reuter's Telegrams.) Received 5.5 p.m., Jan. 30th. LONDON, Jan. 30. Obituary—Viscount Cromer. (Reuter's Telegrams.) i Received 11.30 p.m., Jan. 30th. LONDON, Jan. 30. Lord Cromer had been ill for some time and was unable latterly to preside at the Dardanelles Commission. He died from a. stroke late last night. Evelyn Baring, Viscount Cromer, was born in IS-U. ' He was educates •for the Army and became a captain of artillery in 1870, and major in 1876 Later he acted as secretary to officials abroad—Secretary to the Viceroy of India 1872-76. Lord Cromer's ftxuc rests chiefly upon his administration of Egyption affairs, ISB3-1907. It is due to him that Egypt holds her present position in the history of the nations. Hei changed the country from a state threa/tened by bankruptcy into a flourishing condition. As a necessary condition to his success he ca.used the removal of the Khedive, who had been an incubus upon his own. country, and was a source of truoblo to others. It was due to Lord Cromer's administration that the Soudan was restored to Egypt and to the rule of the British Empire. His two volumes on "Modern Egypt" are enlightening on the condition of Egypt twenty to* thirty years ago. "LIVING SPHINX OF EGYPT." Such, was the title once bestowed upon Lord Cromer, the maker of modern Egypt. It was as Major Evelyn Baring that lie began his work in Egypt nearly forty years ago. He was then in India, and duly dined by his friends. On that occasion one of his hosts is said to have perpetrated the following witty impromptu—"The Egyptians some patience have shown, But our Evelyn Baring is such That they will live to own with a groan, There's an Evil-in-Barini: too much."-. Later the Khedive would probably have said "Amen" to all that. Lord Cromer's long duel with Abbas was a trjumph of strategy. Unce when His Highness • was more than usually restless Lord Oromer led him to a window and pointed to the courtyard of the palace below, which had suddenly filled with thousands of bayonets. Crude, perhaps, the hint was, but ±b was none the less successful. Lord Cromer's quick and daring methods of dealing with an Egyptian r.sing are further illustrated by the following incident. There were rumours of a native rising. Cairo was almost openly disaffected, and the British garrison - was small. His lordship, however, caused it to be known that a regiment was on the way from India, but he was careful not to explain that it consisted of sick leave and timeexpired'men and bandsmen. All the able-bodied soldiers in garrison were ore'ered to parade all o\ tithe town in small parties, and tLe natives did not take in the fact that they were a sort of stage army —i l e isame men over and over again. Ti clast straw was when Lord Crowi/. coolly put on flannels and publicly played game after gme of tennis. Tl.is final piece of bravado nipped the threatened rising in the bud. Several times during his early days in Egypt Lord Cromer's life was in danger. An English' visitor who resembled him was found stabbed lo death, having been .killed in mistake for the great pro-consul: while on smother occasion a dervish was found lo have a knife concealed in a petition which he was about- to present to liis lordship. And it was because he was always a man of deeds, not words, that Lord Oromer became known as the "Sphinx of Egypt." He made himself a power in Egypt which admitted of no rivalry, and although, in 1883, when he was chosen Agent and Consul-General, highly-placed Egyptians told him it would be impossible to do away with bribery and the buying and selling of justice in the land, the answer was, "I am here to change all that." Lord Cromer once went to the Khedive to demand the instant dismissal of a high friend. _ Enraged at the request, the Khedive refused point blank. "Well," Lord Cromer replied quite coolly, "unless I have an order of dismissal in five minutes I will go and cable to England that I am coming home. That will mean your dethronement." And before Lord Cromer left the palace he had in his pocket the order lie had demanded from the Khedive.