The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-04-16 00:00:00

E4e ,Stourbribge Obetter

SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 1897.

EGYPT AGAIN.

IRELAND has of late so absorbed attention
that one has been apt
.to forget there is still
an unsolved Eastern question and a sad
Soudan within short memory. But one or
two things have ham- ened of late which
bring us back to mind the disagreeable and
unquieting circumstances that Egypt is still
a thorn in the English side, and that there
is not unlikely to be trouble ahead yet for
our statesmen in connection with things concerning the land of the Nile. First, we are
reminded by a Standard correspondent of a
blunder which cost us dear—the fitting out
0! the Suakim-Berber Railway. The cor.
respondent re-tells the story of how that
,ensive failure was abandoned as usele, s,
ho ,y the rails and plant were reinmed rn.m
Su ikirn to Cyprus, found to be but (min-
ber..rs of _the ground in that island, and
then sliiped :q.,ain home to England. T! e
metals, says theindignant corresp.,ndent f
the iStandard, once again within the United
Kingdom were put to strange uses. They
found at Lydd ; and there, near the little
Sussex town, the metals remained for a time
in heaps of rusting rubbish, until some
:crenious military stripling hit upon the
i ion that some of them were capable of COT:.
veraion, if turned upside down, into a tensm
c ,urt. The sugge,tion was put into pi-a,.
tice, and so the soldiers of the neighbouring
garrison came to play tennis in their hours
o' relaxation from duty on a con' t wlE'ch
had been bought at a heavy price by their
country. Since then, we believe, these
metals have been sold to a newly-formed
Colonial railway company, so that a dis-
agreeable memento of a Government
take has been removed out of sight. It is
ai welt - We are periodically also led to
remember that we are not out of Eg pt rot
bv a message of dcath from camp, telling
th It some brave British lad li;Ls fallen a
Ti:tim to the. pestilent climate of the deEert
ILnd while eating out his
_hltteefer to do
he dthv trt,:trif Tratiy.P-rogramme of masterly
ititetivity at the bidding of the War Office
authorities; and we are led to wish that
Government would at once give the order
for all our brave fellows to clear out, bag
and baggage, from the Khedive's hateful
country. But it may not be, we are told;
it is inexpedient, and some more of England's
soldier sons must be offered up in the
Egyptian sacrifice, some more of England's
treasure go to bolster up an effete and wholly
incapable rule. It is a dilly-dallying policy
this we are acting upon, and distasteful in
the extreme to the English mind. The long
duration of our indulgence in the " waiting
game" in this respect strengthens the case
of those who argue that the best thing
England can do in Egypt is to come out of
it. Bat to descend from discussing the
general question to matters of detail. One
day this week four envoys from the succes-
sor of the Mandi at the ill-omened city of
Khartoum went through the lines of Wady
Haifa on to Cairo, bearing messages sent by
the false prophet to the Queen, to the Khe-
diva, and to the Sultan. This allowance of
emissaries of the enemy to go unhurt past
the strength of our forces, coming so soon
after the defeat of dervishes near Dongola
by the Kababish Sheikh Saleh, may, or may
not, be a circumstance of considerable im-
port. Nothing has yet transpired as to the
nature of the message carried by the swarthy
quartette, and it may give as ult:rnately in-
terestinff detail as to how gallant Gordon
died, and even express the earnest desire of
Khalifa Abdulla,h to at length abandon the
wearing pursuit of war, and so at once clear
away a long-continued haze of uncertainty
as to th end of a hero, and bring to a close
an exaspi_ratingly irritating expedition. At
any rate it is refreshing to see safe-conduct
given to the servants of the savage and
fanatical wat rior and, r the assumption
which should amount to certainty—that he
has abandoned desperate valour, sleepless
cuaaiug, and relentless hate, for the gentler
'haviour and -arts of diplomacy; for from
this voile face on Abdullah's part one may
deduce hope of a pacific issue to our long
stay in Egypt. So may it be. Peace is far
bett .r t!.an war, and the Soudan lev.ders may
have le :rued the lessons which the cam-
paign of the Nile-land teaches with such
telling force in that direction. In that case
in it arnestly. hoped that her Majesty's
Gov.; nment will di' play no spirit of vindic-
tiven ;es, nor permit the Egyptians to do so
either, towards the Soudanese. Let us see
that tire sons of the desert are treated with
justic and fairness in the building up of the
broach that Iris been Fo long and painfully
appa7ent, and, come away with their good-
will, for fer he brave fellows have fought for
what they thought •their rights with a
hewoism worthy of' all praise. General
tiordon, who laid down ins life for them,
would then be most nobly avenged, for the
dream of his heart %V :IS to see Upper Egypt
firmly established under .a
strong and rigi t
fat native rule.

Holloway's Ointnaost and PAL—These ternerlias ar,
nnevalled throu4lymt the world for bad legs, wounds
foal sore., bad breasts: ar,cl ulcers. Used ac2ord,ng t
d.r,ett,ns g:ven tlem there is no witted, bad leg,
or lc,rcas sore, howev4r obstinate or long stan.lin,z
,y,.1 :ield to tlietr healing cod curative properties
JA,II f pO.M. 'ufnrer s o have been patients in the lary
hospitals under the care f eminent. surgeons, and hava
derived little or no benefit horn their treatment, have
ben thoroiNti'y cured by. Holsoway's Ointment an I
„ Jo, For gl•,hitil:tr tuminr§. "p lee," ant
f •II .re :a rg that can be ass 1
qv, !te,i:. • .4a toe, u: the w .rst foiml
ezia ittion of the Wool,
• ‘tei siriel4llolo.

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