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These threads through lovely curve and hollow, Dear record of a peaceful past,

From The Fortnightly Review.
EGYPT, 1882-1892.

at the present juncture. Whether Great Britain should have interfered in Egypt THE progress that has been made in as she did in 1882 was a question upon Egypt during the last seven years is one of which at the time there was much differthe most remarkable events in modern ence of opinion; but the interference havtimes, and reads more like a transformation ing been made by the responsible rulers scene in a fairy-tale than one of the hard of the country, it is impossible for us now realities of history. Ten years ago-in to escape from the natural consequences 1882- the condition of the country was of our actions. With the majority of the almost desperate. Emerging from liquida- French the opinion is fixed and apparently tion by the help of France and England, itineradicable that our presence in Egypt appeared again to be on the verge of abso- is due to a cool, premeditated policy. As lute bankruptcy. Discontent permeated a matter of fact, we were there in spite of the whole population, and a spirit of revolt ourselves. No government was more unwas rampant in the army. Disturbances willing to intervene in foreign affairs in accompanied with cruelty and bloodshed any way than that of Mr. Gladstone in were frequent in the most densely popu- 1882, and they would never have interlated of its towns. The finest portion of vened at all had not events been too strong the chief commercial city, Alexandria, had for them. With certain results of interbeen burnt to the ground, and the Euro- ference by Lord Beaconsfield's governpean population that carried on its trade ment in foreign and colonial affairs before and commerce had fled or been given over their eyes the mistakes made in Zuluto outrage and massacre. Trade and com- land, the disasters in Afghanistan, the merce were for a time completely para-doubtful acquisition of Cyprus with its lyzed. The Khedive Tewfik was a fugitive entangling engagements, the unprecein his palace of Ras-el-tin, and the govern- dented deposition of Ismail Pasha-they ment, such as it was, was in the hands of came into power in 1880 with the sincere rebel soldiers. The opinion of Europe determination to interfere as little as poswas shown at the time by its stock, which sible in such matters. Their own talents, went down to 45. they conceived, were more adapted for home affairs, and had they been able to carry out their wishes they would have banished foreign and colonial policy to Saturn. It is a strange coincidence that, coming into office with such strong, and, no doubt, sincere views of non-intervention, they actually, during their five years of office, intervened more than any government the country has had for the last halfcentury. They were always intervening, and the disastrous consequences which generally attended their intervention may be attributed to this original disinclination to intervene their intervention generally coming too late and being supported in a half-hearted manner.

Now, in 1892, all is changed. The finances of the country are in as sound condition as those of any of the States of Europe. On all sides are to be seen signs of prosperity and content. The army has been reorganized, and disloyalty in its ranks is unknown; trade and commerce are flourishing; vast reforms affecting the well-being of the whole population have been carried out; Alexandria has been rebuilt in so magnificent a style that its people begin to think that its needless burning was not an unmitigated evil; great material improvements with regard to irrigation have been made throughout the country; the new Khedive Abba has succeeded to his throne in as quiet a manner as would the heir of any old-estab lished monarchy; and the opinion of Europe may be grasped by the fact that Egyptian stock is at par.

The cause or causes of this almost miraculous change are well worthy the consideration of Englishmen, especially

It is a fact that should not be forgotten that the first three years of our intervention in Egypt did more harm than good to the country, and the harm would never have happened if the government of the day had had the courage to act upon the advice and opinions of those who had experience in the country and knew the state

of affairs. Had the most ordinary precau- | Dufferin was asked to perform an impostions been taken, Alexandria would never sible task - to draw up a workable constihave been burnt down, and the probabili- tution for a people who did not know what ties are there would have been no Egyp-a constitution was. Lord Northbrook, a tian War, no Tel-el-Keber, no massacre of man of great administrative ability, with Egyptian troops, and no loss of the Sou- all the experience acquired as a governordanese provinces. It is undoubted that general of India, and with the rank of a three years after the British intervention Cabinet minister, was sent as a special Egypt was in a worse condition than be- high commissioner to inquire into the fore our intervention. Alexandria had causes of Egypt's woes, and to suggest been burnt, the armies of Hicks Pasha remedies. What evils he did find out, and Baker Pasha had been annihilated, what ameliorative measures he suggested, the garrisons of Tokar, Singat, Senaar, are absolutely unknown to the public, who Kassala, Berber, and Dongola had been paid the bill for the mission. The mis. massacred. Lord Wolseley's expedition sion ended in moonshine. His report to Khartoum had failed, Gordon had been would, no doubt, be admirable and statessacrificed, and the whole of the Soudanese manlike, but apparently it did not suit the provinces, with a population supposed to party crotchets of the ministry, for it never number eleven millions of souls, had been saw the light; no copy of it is, I believe, lost to Egypt. The Egyptians might well to be found in the Foreign Office, and, if ask to be saved from their friends, for it report be true, it was committed to the is absolutely true that all these disasters flames. As for General Gordon, his treatcame from preventable causes and might ment by the government of the day was have been prevented, or at least enor- treacherous and cruel in the extreme. mously mitigated had it not been for the Called upon at a moment's notice to give almost unaccountable and apparently in- up a good and useful appointment under fatuated conduct of the government. To the king of the Belgians, for the double foreigners their conduct was unaccount- purpose of saving the Egyptian garrisons able, but, no doubt, the causes were, first, in the Soudan from annihilation and of their sincere disinclination to intervene at extricating the government of the day all, and then the divided state of opinion from the difficulties their vacillating policy among their supporters, some being for had produced, he, of all men, should have intervention, some against, and the result been trusted and allowed to act on his was an attempt to please both sides, end- own responsibility. His gallantry and ing in a policy of change, hesitancy, and military ability were known to all; but the uncertainty. special reason for his employment was his knowledge of the Soudan country and its

In one respect Mr. Gladstone's ministry showed its good sense. For the carry-inhabitants. His expedition from the ing out of its objects it selected excellent instruments. For extricating a country or a ministry from difficulties better men could not be found than those they selected - Lords Dufferin and Northbrook, General Gordon and Sir Evelyn Baring; and the question why the first three failed and the last has succeeded is well worthy the attention of statesmen. The ability of all for the work they were called upon to do is admitted, and the cause of failure of Lord Dufferin, Lord Northbrook, and General Gordon was that their hands were tied by the ministers at home and they received no support for the courses they advised or attempted to pursue. Lord

first was considered by many to be a forlorn hope, and on all sides it was admitted that he carried his life in his hand. If ever the leader of an expedition should have had a free hand it was General Gordon, and yet, apparently for party considerations, his hands were from the first tied, and his requests neglected or refused. His requests for money, for Indiar troops, for Turkish soldiers, and for En glish officers were all declined. The most flagrant refusal of all was that of Zebehr Pasha. People knowing the character of Soudanese chieftains might have their doubts as to Gordon's wisdom in asking for the co-operation of Zebehr Pasha. He

had unwittingly been the cause of the cruel murder of Zebehr's young sona boy of eighteen years of age- and some thought that if opportunity offered Zebehr might take his revenge. This, however, was Gordon's own affair. He wanted him. Nubar Pasha, then prime minister at Cairo, and Sir Evelyn Baring both approved, and, in the first instance, the government did the same. When, however, Lord Randolph Churchill, then in the responsible position of the leader of the fourth party, expressed himself as shocked at one who had owned slaves being employed by Gordon, the ministers were frightened, and actually refused to let Gordon have his way. Well might he in despair use words against the government that employed him which, I should think, were never used before by any agent in his position without his being at once recalled saying that "he left to them the indelible disgrace of abandoning the garrisons of Senaar, Kassala, Berber, and Khartoum." Great as were his talents for the purpose for which he was employed, it is no wonder that he failed when his advice was neglected and his views scouted by the ministers who despatched him on his dangerous errand.

general at Zanzibar. Mr. John Gorst, son of the present secretary of the treasury, though now serving in the offices of the Egyptian ministry of finance, is considered by those capable of forming opinions as one of his aptest pupils, with a knowledge of Eastern affairs and a tact in dealing with them which must be useful to an empire like ours. Sir Edgar Vincent, though nominally financial adviser to the Egyptian government, would be the first to acknowledge that his financial successes have been due to the training and the inspiration he received from Sir Evelyn. There is no reason for supposing that Sir Evelyn Baring's brain power has been different between 1885 and 1892 from what it was between 1883 and 1885, or that his administrative faculties underwent a process of regeneration on the accession to office of Lord Salisbury in July of 1885. Yet the fact remains that up to 1885 his administration was a failure, and that since then it has been one of the most brilliant successes of the century. He was appointed in 1883 by Mr. Gladstone, and under his regime up to July, 1885, there occurred the massacre of Hicks Pasha's army, the defeat of Baker Pasha's troops, the useless expeditions to Suakim, the The case of Sir Evelyn Baring differs slaughter of the Egyptian garrisons in from that of Lords Dufferin and North- the Soudan, the reckless abandonment of brook and of General Gordon in this most the Soudanese provinces, the curtailment important respect he has had the oppor- of Egyptian territory by throwing back tunity of serving under Lord Salisbury, as the frontier to Wady Halfa, the failure well as under Mr. Gladstone, and so of of Lord Wolseley's expedition, and the showing what stuff he himself, when un- eventual sacrifice of Gordon-catastrofettered, was made of. Facts have proved phes enough, one would think, to dama that he is a man of great ability, a born and daunt the most courageous of adminadministrator, with all the financial talents istrators. At the time blame was freely that have distinguished so many that bear attributed to Sir Evelyn for many of these his name, with a will as strong as that of disasters, but subsequent events plainly the great Elchi Stratford Canning, and prove that those were responsible who with an unbounded capacity for work. had tied his hands as they had tied those Like all great administrators, he has the of Dufferin, Northbrook, and Gordon. faculty of inspiring those who work under Lord Salisbury came into power in July, him with confidence and a love of their 1885, and under Mr. Gladstone's ministry, work, and already he has trained up a from February, to July, 1886, Lord Rosesmall band of Eastern administrators, who bery was at the Foreign Office. Of him must have a good future before them. it may be said with certainty that, in his The abilities of one of his ablest lieuten- short administration of foreign affairs, and ants, Mr. Gerald Portal, have been recog- especially of Egypt, he followed in the nized by Lord Salisbury by appointing footsteps of Lord Salisbury, and not those him, at the early age of thirty-two, consul- of Lord Granville or Mr. Gladstone. The