New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-23
ENGLAND AND EGYPT.
LOMATIC DELAYS AND A SAILORS soLU-
TON

once moro 70 describe the situation OF England, OF
rather of the English Government, with respect 10
Erypt. II is by no wish of his own that MT OIau-
stone finds himself At war with Arab. An oriental
wonld say he is the Minister of Destiny. IT any
bodv had told Mr. Gladstone in April, 1850. that in
a little more than two years he would he ordering
the bombardment of Alexandria the prophet would
have had bad quarter of an hour. All Mr. Glad
stones views have been dead against the occupation
of Egypt. He has maintained the rresponsibiity OF
England with reference to all Egyptian questions
outside OF finance He opposed, denOu ced, TIdculed
the purchase of the Suez Canal shares He has
never given the least ass mt TO the opinion held by
n powerful party in England that ii is the business
and duty of England to protect the Suez canal
Pressed with The argument that more than three
ourths of the tonnage passing through the canal Is
Eng h, he met it with something very like sneer
:" What then7" he mag be conceived as saying
" we don't own the canal, we did not make IT, we
have no controlling financial interest In IT,
we have no jurisdiction over the territory
through which it passes we have not
foothold IN Egypt, politically speaking we are
friendly with the Suzcran of Egypt dlplomatlcaly
speaking and friends in every sense to the present
Khedivc whom helped place on his throne You
might as well ask US TO assume a control over tine
Northern Railway of France because it carries Eng
lish passengers to Paris"
No doubt Mr. Gladstone would say he still adhered
to these views lie did say as much the other day
when challenged in the House about cert in ar
ticlc he had written some years ago in
The Nineteenth Century, 1t is Arab who
has forced Mr. Gladstones hand From the
moment Arab appeared on the scene some sort
of Intervention was foreshadowed. If Macmavel-
Ian theories of diplomacy were now III vogue, 1t
might he said that Arab was a tool, and that Eng
land had encouraged him and led him on step by
step in a career which could have but one end, and
that n fatal one to him and a useful one to England
We all know that nothing of that sort has really
taken place OF what has really taken place 1t IS
not possible 10 speak IN those terms OF eulogy one
would like 20 employ in describing the action OF
such a Government as this. Long after Arab and
the Egyptian colonies were first heard of. an
optimistic notion had possession OF the
English Foreign Office. The view which
was expressed by some of those on the
spot that Arab might prove difficult to get rid Of
was lightly put aside To follow the stages of the
controversy would take us too far, and the leading
facts are fresh in all memories. Those VINO have
considered the matter most closely will be the first
TO agree that Lord Granville showed marked re-
luctance throughout to anything like resoute
measures.
the more than singular attitude of the French
Government One not less potent is to be found
nearer home; one or more than one. Lord
Granville himself is not Lord Palmerston.
An accomplished dpomatist he is; a mos, capable
and experienced head of the Foreign Office III peace
ful times But the statesman he resembles is Lord
Melbourne and he has carried the can't -you-et-it-
alone-pocy TO the most perIOus lengths. llampercd
he certainly was by the French a lance Itself so
far as Egypt is concerned, legacy for Lord Sails
bury A French alliance is "A good thing for certain
purp oscs The difficulty in these DAYS of shifting
Governments. and vaccillatIng Legislatures and
violent cldies of French pubic opinion and an Ut
tery INSCRIPTIONS French press, Is TO them " hat
French alliance means. Lord Granville has found
IT to mean, within the last twelve
month at least, three things Before
the Tunls expedition France would have actively
interviewed; after tn, criminal folly of Tunis joint
intervention was tacity understood to he ADAM
doned and presently France took up an attitude OF
extreme hostility to the only solution which for
time the rest of Europe coud agree on, viz: inter
ventlon by Turkey under strict European super
and solely to restore order The most danag-
ing criticism upon Lord Granville was that during
this prolonged period he followed 700 closely III the
wake of his French ally. When England first pro-
posed conference France declined. When France
proposed It England acquiesccd. The episode OF the
Dual Note Is perhaps without precedent. There
have not been many English Ministers OF late who
would have pat Their hands TO a State paper OF such
gravity of which they did not approve, and then
contented themselves with renarking in a private
conversation to the French Ambassador that they
had no belief anything would come oft
In the midst of all this diplomatic display, Eng
lIsh public opinion was slowly. very slowly matur-
ing. Egypt became as regular topic at question
time III the House of Commons as Ireland itself.
But for Ireland, and one other circumstance the
country would long since have been reused. The
other circumstance the obviously partisan and
often frivolous and impairment nature OF
the attack TO which Ministers are sub
ccted. Mr. Ashmead- Bartlett and Sir Drummond
Won ere not quite he sort Of men 10 take the lead
in a great question, or whom great popular bodies
VIII accept as chiefs The agones of the Egyptian
bondholdcr~ affected the general public but little
Slowly. however the notion got abroad that Eng
land was being builIed by Arab If it be possible
10 fix the moment when English public opinion I'M
derweut a decided change, should say It the
moment when the ulimaum was presented and
flung back in the face of The English and French
Consuls General, and when Sir Charles Dixie rose,
IN his place in Parliament, to explain that
il was not an utlmatum. because an uli-
matun, in the language of diplomacy, means
a document addressed by one sovereign power
to another. The thunder Of Admiral Seymoul's
guns is but the echo of the savage growl which was
then heard, and which Is John Bulls usual way Of
nlimaing that he is not disposed to stand any more
nonsense.
But i'll justice to Lord Granville, and especially to
Mr.. Gladstone. this remains to be said Slow as they
have been, tolerant OF insult they have beeD
scnting they strangely did, to a proposal for a
Conference which seemed TO put the honor Of
England into the hands of other Powers. of whom
none loves her, they have never swerved from one
resolve. Those who know anything about the real