The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-06-18
The regular circulation Of THE Sun for the
week e,,diuo June II. 1882, pus:


lar more bduBuludTy tllhu WtS Nv III Sp pup
posed, and that for the moment ARAB
Pasha and the native troops who regard him
rs their leader are the unchallenged masters
OF Egypt. Unless every step taken by the
Western powers in regard to the Nile land dur
Ing the last dozen years Is to go for naught,
O solution must forthwith be found for the
existing difficulty. But, unhappily, the re-
cent action OF England and France in this
business has been 30 devoid Of foresight and
consistency that Of the two solutions posi-
BILE neither is free from grave and obvious
objections. -'s
Who would have believed when French
skill and capital constructed the Suez
Canal, when French and English in
vestors bought the bonds issued so pro-
fusely by the ex-Khedive IsMA1L, when
Lord BEAcoNsFIELD purchased a large in
terest in the great waterway for the account
OF the British Government and annexed
Cyprus with the avowed object that
Great Britain might be in q position
to maintain her hold on Egypt, that
the state Of things now witnessed in
Cairo and Alexandria would have provoked
no resistance from the Western powers2
1t cannot, assuredly, be pretended that
LuBl duu iLu huNC pCNh bhhNh Ill
awares, for the course of events in the
Nile country during the last twelvemonth
has been one continuous admontion. They
have had ample time to intervene in favor OF
the policy to which they were distinctly
pledged, and on behalf Of the luckless ruler
who relied on their support, but they have
thus far done nothing besides submitting a
pretended ultimatum which was treated with
contempt, and making a naval demonstra-
ton whose notorious futility unquestionably
prompted frightful massacre.
1t is no longer disputable that the slaugh-
ter perpetrated on Sunday in Alexandria was
the work of the native soldiers and the local
police, or, in other words, OF the very men who
believe with ARAB that Egypt should be
governed by Egyptians and who are re-
solved that foreign ascendancy, il exercised
at all, must be established by the
sword. Nor can it be disputed
that their purpose has been fully attained,
temporarily, at least, by the results Of the
uprising. It turns out that the number OF
Europeans killed on Sunday was strangely
underestimate, and that instead Of 46, the
number reported four days ago, some $40 are
already known to have been butchered, and
every hour fresh victims Of the massacre are
washed In by the sea. AS might be expected,
such defamation Of the Christian residents
the chief Egyptian seaport, where, II any
where, being under the guns Of the allied
squadron, they might have been presumed
Ito be safe, has been followed by universal
exodus OF Europeans from the country. or
the elaborate apparatus by which the col
lection and disbursement of the Egyptian
revenues were subjected to European control
not vestige exists in Cairo. The Sue2
Canal, the railroads, the Nile waterworks,
the telegraph, the Post Office, the Custom
Houses, have all been wrested from the
hands Of men who year ago deemed them
selves the perpetual trustees of Egypts re-
sources, and who imagined that the fear Of
France and England would suffice to stifle
disaffection in the germ.
Thus we see that all the money invested
by Europe in Egypt during the last ten
or fifteen years, all the intricate fabric
Of supervision and control erected by
Western diplomacy, and all the political
and military uses Of the Suez water
way are seriously imperilled by the resolute
attitude OF a single man, who, like MoHAM-
MED ALI, has contrived to make him
self the idol Of the native soldiery and the
representative OF the national aspirations.
What shall be done with Arab Pasha-that
is the question which not only tn, powers
most directly Interested, but all the larger
European States, are now bordering, and
there seem, as we have said, to be
but two practicable answers. The idea, for
instance, of a conference may be abandoned
and there is no doubt that the project
attested extraordinary vacillation and timid-
lily on the part Of England and France, and,
more than anything else, Is chargeabe with
the appalling slaughter in Alexandria-in
which case Turkey would be permitted to
restore order in Egypt result she could
speedily accomplish with no great expendi.
ture Of force. The alternative course Is to
insist on a prompt meeting OF the confer
ence, which would in all likelihood intrust
TO France and England the suppression Of
Tic insurrcctiOn, n task which they unqucs-
tionably would be able to accomplish, but
not so easily or cheaply as it could be per-
formed by the Porto.
Suppose, however, the conquest OF Egypt
effected by English and French troops,
who is to adjust afterward the conflict
ing claims OF the conquerors? More
over, il the Western powers interfere at this
late date, the blood Of the hundreds Of Eu-
ropeans murdered in Alexandria will seem
IN wv from the ground against the shut
ainps nd delays OF their irresolute,
equIvocal, pu-.illanimous policy Yet
sharp as are the rebukes to which
the English and Fren,,h Governments have
In any event exposed Themselves the material
interests Of the two countries is'ay DC saved
OF this late hour by O vigorous eXc.uln ol
military force, whereas they will almost 'eF'
tainly be sacrificed II Turkey is allowed to
gain firm hold Of Egypt by the interposi-
ton of considerable army. 1t must be re-
membcred that the Porte has never, since the
day Of Sultan SELIM, the conqueror OF Cairo,
possessed the absolute mastery OF the
Nile land which it coveted, for first the
Mamelukes, and aftcrward the house OF
MoHAMMED ALL clrcumscribed its authority
within very narrow bounds. II ABDUL-HA-
MID, through the weakness and folly OF the
Western powers, should be permitted to