News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-08-24
A HOLY WAR,
The Prospects in the Old World
Englands Danger.
From the New York Time

The danger that England will soon
find herself involved in a war vastly
more important than she is now waging
against Arab Pasha steadily increases.
Now that an English expedition is
already on its way to Egypt, the Sultan
has finally determined to send Turkish
troops, ostensibly to restore the author
ity of the Khedive. He refused to do
SO when, prior to the bombardment of
Alexandria, it was the desire of England
that he should undertake the task of
restoring order in Egypt, but now, that
England has decided to do the work
herself, the Sultan suddenly announces
that his troops are about to start for
Egypt. He, however, steadily refuses
to accede to the English demand that
he should at once issue a proclamation
declaring Arab to be a rebel, and takes
the ground that the proper time for
issuing such a proclamation will be after
the landing of the troops.
The conduct of Turkey in this matter
must create grave suspicious of her
good faith. 1t has been repeatedly an
nounced that evidences of a perfect I'M
~derstanding between Arab and the Sui
tan have been discovered, and there are
many circumstances which confirm the
theory that the two are acting in con-
cert. The Sultan would not send troops
to suppress Arab when it could have
been done with comparative ease. He
now, while sending an army to Egypt,
refuses to declare Arab a rebel. It is
possible that he feels that he cannot
make up his mind whether Arab is a
rebel or not until after he has ascer-
tanned how many men the Egyptian
leader has under his command and how
strongly he is intrenched. If he finds
that Arab has only four or five thousand
men with which to oppose, say, ten
thousand Englishmen, ii may suddenly
occur to the Sultan that Arab is a
wicked rebel, and that England should
be left to deal with him. If, on the
contrary, he finds that Arabi's army is
large, well armed, enthusiastic, and oc-
cupying a strong position, the doubt in
the Sultan's mind as to Arabs true
character will probably be solved only
after the English have fought a battle
with the combined Egyptians and
Turks.
Some time ago the Times called at
tention to the revival of religious ia
naticism among the Mohammedans all
over the world, and suggested that a
holy war was among the neal possibili-
ties of the future. At the present mo-
ment we find Egypt in the hands of a
determined fanatic-a man who has &C
tually been able to make the Egyptian
soldiers fight. So great is the fear OF
France that the example of the Egyp-
tians will be followed by the Moham-
medans of Tunis and Algiers that she
has withdrawn from all participation in
Egyptian affairs, and has accepted the
loss of prestige which that withdrawal
involves.
Arab, already suspected of acting
with the knowledge and approval of the
Sultan, has threatened Mr.. Gladstone
with the proclamation of a holy war,
and has, it is said, allied himself with
the prophet who has made himself mas
ter, of the Soudan. If the Sultan, anx-
ious to retain his position as the Caliph
of the Mohammedan world, has deter
mined to join in the threatened holy
war, he would do Just as he has done in
regard to sending troops to Egypt; that
is to say, he would induce England to
permit him to land his troops at Alex
andria, under p~retense of cooperating
with the British forces, and then, hav-
ing carefully abstained from proclaim
ing Arab a rebel, he would find an easy
pretext for quarreling with England and
sending his troops to the aid Of Arab.
In spite of the determination of Eng
land to protect the Suez Canal, nothing
can be more evident than that the Egyp-
tians can blockade it at almost any
point by blowing up the banks with
dynamite. English men-of-war and
regiments of the line may be stationed
at Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, but
they cannot protect the entire length of
the canal from injury. In point of fact,
the canal is at the mercy of the Egyp-
tians, and at any moment they can cut
England off from quick communication
with India.
This fact is of enormous Importance
in case a general rising of the Moham-
medans is intended. Troops are to be
sent from India to Egypt, and the Mo-
hammedans of India will know that
these Indian troops are sent to fight
their co-religionists in Egypt. They
will comprehend that the moment has
come for them to make the attempt TO
throw off the British yoke. With the
Suez Canal b~lockaded, no English rein
forcements could be sent to India with
out long delay, and were the Turks to
make common cause with the Egyptians
it is difficult to see from whence England
could draw sufficient men to maintain
the struggle both in Egypt and India.
The hatred of Mohammedans for
Christians knows no change, and it is
only through fear that the Mohamme-
dams of Turkey, Egypt, and India have
tolerated the presence of Europeans.
Turkey, which at the time Of the Cri-
mean war was glad to be allied with
England, has good cause for resenting
the failure of England to come to her
assistance during the late Russian war,
and co~mprehends perfectly well that
under Nh. Gladstone England is the en-
envy of the "unspeakable Turk" There
has lever been SO promising an oppor-
tunity for a grand Mohammedan upris-
ing against England as there is at the
present moment.
With Egypt and the Suez Canal in
the power of a Mohammedan leader al
ready at war with England; with the
Mohammedans of India longing to re-
peat the sepoy rebellion, and with the
Sultan urged on to join with Arab in
order to forestall the possible proclama-
ton of a rival Caliph at Mecca, there is
abundant reason to fear that the effort
of Turkey to introduce troops into
Egypt without declaring Arab a rebel