The New York herald., 1878-09-16
England aud Egypt.


and interests in Eastern Europe. One
great sovereign urged her to occupy the
country, and purpose to seize 1t with
armed force has been often attributed 70
her and imagined as q consequence OF any
departure from the routine of her move
ments in Indin, as was VIGOROUSLY done
during the recent expedition of Sepoys
through the Red Sea. Perhaps but few OF
those who tn fought on this topic considered
how little such course was necessary 10
make England as completely supreme IN
Egypt, in all respects in which she cares to
control it, as she is supreme in any one OF
her own colonies. Without blow given
or received without a shot. tired
or a soldier moved, England rules
Egypt by the mere exercise Of her will
as bondholder; rules it, in short, just as
without an army, but with large purse,
she rules the world in regions that would
spurn the imputation of subjection te her,
and she rules it more to her satisfaction In
this way than she might if she held it by n
more obviously material system since she
is not responsible Tor it. 1t is true that
England's responsibility for the welfare OF
countries subject to her dominion sits
lightly enough Oh her conscience. Millions
may starve in the terrible famines Of India
which could be i'll great degree prevented
if the revenues of the country were properly
expended on public works and not diverted
to swell the enormous wealth Of England;
vet the starvation Of those millions dis
tresses England only in its humanitarian
aspect, as it distresses human creatures IN
any other. civilized country Yet she has
in material respects a responsibility for
India and for Australia and for Canada and
it is not always in proportion to the ad-
vantage she derives from her relation to
those countries. She has duties often more
than equivalent to her rights But in Egypt
she is under neither moral nor material OBJ
legation. For the shortcomings, the follies
or the crimes of government there the world
may point its finger at Cairo or at Con-
stan tinople, but not at London. An insur-
rection might rage to any extent short of
general ruin and England could not be
called upon to give cartridge to suppress
it, while if the Nile should spread devasta-
ton instead OF fertility she might only
write it down in her accounts as bad year
for interest payments. Yet England, thus
absolved from all hold OF one side, holds
Egypt on the other as completely tied to
her by her pursestrings rs any metropoli-
tan Power ever held it's provinces.
This anomalous relation is made strik-
ingly apparent in the changes in his ad-
ministration that England has recently
compelled the Khedive to accept. She has
practised upon him a sort OF politico-finan-
cial foreclosure. She has reduced him Mt
stroke from the condition of an Oriental
dcspot, absolute within the capricious con-
tro. of the Sultan, toa quasi constitutional
ruler "a prince dependent upon the favor
OF lNr money magnntes for the. retention
of his sovereign attributes. In all the rev.
olutions that abound in Egyptian history
there has been none completed with so lit
tie tracas as this yet none that put in prac-
tical operation. changes so extreme. Never
has any rajah in Hindostan been brought
SO readily to '.disestablish" himself as
sovereign prince and accept England as
his providence, his supreme fountain
of authority nor have the Indian princes
accepted change SO completely as the
Khedive nor would it have been so strange
fact if they had, since they were under
the hand always o. Englands military dis
cipline. But the Khedive has recognized
his position in a Parliamentary spirit; and,
as il anxious TO constitute himself a convert
to Western ideas and to assmilate the
spirit of his government with those ideas,
has accepted ministry from the side of
the prevalent opinions just az Queen Vic
.oria might have done before a change in
the Parliamentary majority. He has not
only made an Englishmnn his Fl fnancial Min
lister, and given him full authority to en-
force principles determined upon in Eng
land, but he has done this because England
and not Egypt or her ruler had confidence
in this Englishman. And for the same rea-
son he has put at the head OF his govern
ment "A man hitherto m exile, and has
thereby abdicAted all that part of his SOW
ereign authority that is inconsistent with
constitutional government
Egyptian finances have been somewhat
o. II puzzle hitherto, even to the financial
world of Europe that was best acquainted
with them, because it. was apparent that
the public expenditures did not account
for the enormous revenue, which yet con-
sequently proved insufficient for these ex-
pcnditures. His Highness the Khedive
was even ready to accept the advice and
assistance of European bankers and tinan-
ciers in devising means to feat his con-
stantly increasing debt but there was one
peculiar feature of the case as to which he
was sensitive. He did not want them to
20 into the past history Of his financial
administration. He wanted "bygones to be
bygones." In fact, his position was pre-
cisely in this respect that of the