Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-08-02
Egypt.

Within the past few years England has
made war upon the Zulus, the Afghans, the
Beers and now the survivor of the ancient
kingdom of wisdom and learning is feeling
the heavy hand of her naval and military
strength. A power of the first rank among
empires of colossal resources, her military
operations have been directed against saw
age or half-civilized communities or king
doms, without naval or military organiza-
tions that rise to the rank or dignity of the
means of offence or defence. And for what
purpose have these wars been waged Z Who
was the aggressor Were many gallant
English lives sacrificed in South Africa in
defence of human freedom, to extend the
area of human liberty, or to confer upon
the inhabitants of those lands any of the
blessings of civilization Has England
been engaged in any war during the present
century in which any of these great interests
was the stake for which she commended
The war in which she embarked on this con-
tinent at the close of the last century in all
its leading features affords clue to the in
spring cause Of all her subsequent wars
the maintenance of British commerce.
Trade has been the god to whom countless
sacrifices have been made, to obey whose
behests fleets of armored vessels float and
guns of far reaching and deadly devastation
have been pc, fected. The war which this
great power has at length succeeded in fore
ing upon weak, half-civilized Egypt differs
in no essential characteristic from nearly
all of England's later wars. English COM
mercial interests have taken deep root in the
land of the Nile. The Suez canal is the
great highway to her Indian empire. The
maintenance of the empress of midas orr
entail dominions hangs upon the secure and
permanent possession of this slender line of
water way, and to keep that she must con-
troll the government of the kingdom through
whose territories De Lesseps' great enterprise
was conducted. England holds the bonds
of Egypt which were issued to secure the
construction of this canal, and the control of
the Egyptian government has been the means
ny WhiSh ohc huo oouBhb W huibc nCi
gage. If the security should by any means
become endangered, she would foreclose, not
by an appeal to the civil courts, but by the
more sure and summary process of military
seizure. The reigning sovereign of Egypt
wasplaced upon the throne by British power,
and British power has maintained him there
as a figure-head to honor British bills of
exchange. With quite as much reason
might England in similar manner have
espoused the cause of her too incredulous
citizens who invested their money in con-
federate bonds during the war of the rebel
lion, But the United States was not the
kind of power against which England en-
forces such claims. On the contrary she
was pleased TO honor the claims of this
country upon her for her remissness in inter
national obligations. A national party nat
urally jealous of England's influence and
periodically indignant at the usurpation by
foreigners Of the functions of government
has sprung up in Egypt. 1t objects to
seeing that country squeezed like an orange
for the benefit of strangers. 1t proposes to
pay all Egypt's debts. Its aspirations for a
free and independent government as ex-
pressed by its leader have been published
in these columns, and they must appeal
strongly to the sympathy of Americans.
England has undertaken to stamp out this
national spirit and restore the ascendency
of her tool, the khedive. For this purpose
Alexandria was bombarded and an English
army is now on its way to search out and
bring into subsection the man who has
braved British authority In wars of this
kind England has never been remarkably
successful. II remains to be seen if the
struggle with Egypt will afford an exception
to contests like that with the American col
onies or the later experience with the South
African peasants.