Tombstone weekly epitaph., 1882-07-15
THE EGYPTIAN WAR.

day morning. This is an actual declaration of war against the Sultan as Egypt is a province of the Otto- man Empire. What the result will be, It is difficult to determine at the present time.
 The affairs of Egypt, mainly through the extravaganza of Saed Pasha and Ismail Pasha, have been for years getting into a more and more entangled condition. Loan af- ter loan, each of gigantic dimensions for so small country, has been Icre- ated, all of them being raised at ruin ous discounts and equally ruinous in- terest. The holders of Egyptian bonds are principally to be found in England and France, and in addi- tion to this, the Suez canal is now owned principally by the British Government, Disraeli, when Premier having effected a purchase of a ma jority of the stock, and it is regarded in England as a possession vital to the safety of British inter- ests in India. When Egyptian finances some half dozen years ago got into apparently inextricable con- fusion, a joint commission of Eng fish and other Europeans was created to take control of her revenues, and this was forced upon the Egyptian Government, its members drawing very large salaries for their services. Since this commission has been in power something like order has been restored, and the interest on the bonds, the main point after which it had to look, has been regularly paid. But it is easy to imagine how dis tasteful to the Egyptians of the up- per ranks were those Commissioners, particularly as part of their duties was necessarily to curtail the oppor- tunities for embezzlement and pecu- lation which had been so numerous and so largely made use of under former administrations. Itis related in report of the commission, as one instance of this, that an officer of the Government, with salary of 10000 piastres, had in the course of five years managed to accumulate f1,- 00O,000 sterling.
 In watching the turn of events there are some points that it is we'll to bear in mind. The first of these is that Turkish power has been ma- terially lessened in almost every shoUS of arnis that has taken place in Europe during the last hundred years. Second, the tie that binds Egypt to allegiance to the Ottoman Porte is of the weakest and most artificial character possible. It would have beee snapped asunder easily by Mehemet Ali in 1883 but for the in- terference of the great Powers of Europe, and since then has been frequently on the verge of dissolu- tion. Another point to remember is the impelling necessity under which England labors, or believes she la bors, to maintain supreme control over the new highway to India.
 The indiscriminate slaughter of Europeans in the streets of Alexan- dria few weeks ago was doubtless impslled by the governing classes of Egypt, who have long smarted under the arrogance of the European com missioners. It is now too late for England to retreat. The lombard ment of the ancient city has com. menced, and England must fight it out. She may have more on her hands than she calculated on. Per- haps the Sultan may lounge under the shadow of passive protests, and perhaps the hordes of Islem from all over southwestern Asia may be called to defend the "sacred flag" In any event England is placed in an em. barrassing position. It is a queer commentary on the past policy of the country which has consistently de. clared for the maintenance of the in. tegrity of the Turkish Empire, tha, this same champion should appropri. ate the biggest and richest slice oi those dominions to its own use. In the meantime England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity, and what are the Irish going to do about it?
 MR. LARKIN w. CARR, of Benson comes to the front as an avow. | luAz AL T