The Star. MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1882.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4505, 2 October 1882, Page 2

The Star. MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1882.

Mattbhs in and about Egtjt look wonderfully favourable. Not only haj resistance in tho country itself uttorly collapsed in a shorter time than the most sanguine cxpc-cted, but tho diplomatic complications which it was thought would {1:11110(1131017 follow a British success have not ret made their ap« pearance. Tho Valley of tho Kilo is ao quiet thnt Bir Garnet (or, as wo suppose wo ought now to call him, Lord) Wolseley is going Home with a great, part of hia victorioug army, to receive the ovation wlii.'h nobody cun pretend has not been earned. A strong garrison, however, is to bo loft behind in Alexandria, and the fiduunistrulion of tho Suez jcanal and surrounding disfiict is to be undertaken by Great Britain. The mooning of this is, that the Engiip.h Lion bus definitely taken his etand on the highway to India. As the Bishop of Melbourne very truly eairl recently, we, in those Colonies, havo every reason to be thankful for this. Tho Suez Canol may not be ihc highway to Australasia. Fortunately we havo scverul routes of not unequal value to connect us with tho Old World. When the Panama Canitl ia opened, the importance of that through Suez will not, from a New Z.aluud point of view at all events, bo very grout. Tho Panama canal is not, however, yet nn accomplished fact. .Even when it if, the having two strings to oik-.'b bow will still bo adTan* tagoou?, especially when tho rcscrvo efring will be secure in tho l.nndc of Kugland, To India and Northern ond Western Australia, the importance of the Suez lino is of course supreme. To pass from the Colonies to Europe, it is impossible to avoid remarking on the singularly eilonl, if not complacent, manner in whioh tbo Great Porers appear for tho present to havo acquiesced in the occupation by Hrjgland of tho gstes of Egypt c.nd t?io Bast. The reason of this may bj partly that Sir Garnet has been too quijk for tho diplomats. He is roturning home in triumth, when be ought to havo been in tho thick of a difficult and doubtful campaign. 13 at a further and more weighty reason is probably

to be found in the state of the Continental Powers at the present moment. France, as far a« Fgyptian nffaira aro concerned, deliberately committed suioide months ago. Sho, whether tlirough prudence, selfishnos*, or timidity, lot each ono call it according to his fancy, declined lo share with England the risk involved in putting Arabi down. Bussia— i.e., tho Czar— has enough to do at home just now, and tho eamo remark applies, though in a Je?s extent, to Bismarck. Aui»fT : a has nothing to do wilh the Kist, and Turkey, without allies, is probably ouly too happy to accept Lord Dufforin's smiling assurances that England " doesn't moan anything." As a matter of faot, England does mean something. She means to hold tha highwuy to India, and to that wo cordially join with the Bishop of Molbourne in saying 11 Amen."