Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-09-16
THE EseLIss VICTORY.

As 10 low 6ppartut tuat tnS rOut OF the
Egyptian army at Tel.el. Kebir has prac.
tically ended the campaign and the war.
Arab had by the free employment of
coercion and intimidation collected TO.
gether large number of raw levies, and
had made them intrench the camp and
build redoubts. But neither his regulars
nor his recruits were trustworthy, and
when it came to serious fighting they
could not be held to the work. Arab has
for many weeks been also endeavoring to
strengthen himself by industriously cir.
culating the most barefaced lies about the
British. He has assured his troops that
the English soldiers would not fight He
has invented stories of crushing defeats in.
t1icted UPON them. In fact from the day
of the bombardment of Alexandria he has
caused his men to live in an atmosphere Of
misrepresentation, and he has done this
for the simple reason that il they had
known the truth they would have aban-
| doued him long ago. He has, however,
not succeeded in anything. 1t was I'M
reasonable to accuse him of vacillation, for
the truth has always been that he dared
not take the offensive with the materials
in his hands. His only hope lay in de-
fensive campaign, and as the event has
proved there was very little in that. Ar
abb Pasha has really been committing a
long series of desperate blGnders. 1t would
seem that at one time he must have thought
it possible to induce the Egyptian people to
accept him as their leader On what he
could have founded such belief it is in
deed impossible to imagine, for if the
Egyptians knew any thing of his career they
must have been aware that he was the
tool and representative OF that clique Of
Turkish Pashas which had plundered them
so remorselessly up to the establishment of
the European Control.
There never was national or popular
element in Arabs movement. From the
first it was in the interest of the worst
enemies of Egypt; that is to say, of the
Pashas, who resented the interference of
England and France with their venerable
methods of highway robbery and terrorism.
The success of Arab would never have
meant anything else than the restoration
of the old bad system Of oppression and
extortion. Under the men for whom he
stood the Fellah was accustomed to be
taxed by the instrumentality of the basti-
nado. In those halcyon days he was
obliged to bury everything he valued, lest
| the tax collector should seize it. His
rulers were robbers who sought to take all
he had made every year, and were only
willing to leave him meager subsistence.
There was no justice or redress for him.
There was nothing but patience and the
cunning secretiveness engendered by such
| tyranny. The European Control abolished
the old regime. Il swept away the high
way robbers It fixed the taxes at a mod
crate amount, and collected them after
civilized methods. For the first time in
centuries the Fellah found himself able to
enjoy his own earnings. 1t was no longer
necessary to bury his little savings. The
bastinado was thrown aside, and though
the old school predicted that it would be
| impossible to get in the taxes without it.
as fact the collection OF the revenue was
never SO easily made as under the new
system. Arab Pasha proposed to do away
with this nascent civilization, and to
revert to the old barbarous practices, and
he seems to have thought that the Egypt
ians could be persuaded to fight for such a
programme.
The battle Of Tel.el K ebir has caused his
whole organization to collapse. 1t was a
very thin shell, as the event proves, and it
is evident that there is no possibility of
patching it together again. General
Wolseley is now acting with a swiftness and
decision which show that he thoroughly
understands the situation, and which af-
ford no opportunity to the defeated rebel
to make another stand. And in fact his
late Lieutenants appear to have already
made up their minds to abandon him. This
one experience has satisfied them that resist.
ance is useless, and after the Oriental fash
ion they are coming forward to make their
peace as quickly as possible. The author
ity of the Khediye has suddenly revived.
Even if Arab succeeds in reaching Cairo
he will probably find that the news of his
defeat has preceded MIN, and as the Gov
ernor of that city has been loyal to the
| khedive from the first, he can be trusted
now to oppose any desperate revenge at
tempted by the fugitive. The Bedouins
had in all probability abandoned Arab be.
fore the fight at Tel.el-Kebir. They had
foreseen his collapse, and they did not
want long war with one of the great
Western powers. What has happened to
delay the coming of the false prophet
whose departure from Khartoum was so
long ago announced, has not yet been as.
certained. Perhaps had that parsonage ar
rived in the nick of time he might have
infused some temporary courage into
Arabi's forces, though even his advent
could not have helped Arab, since he would
have had to assume a subordinate position.
At present, however, a wholesale and
unconditional surrender of the remnant of
/ the Egyptian army is the most probable
event, and this nay end the military phase
of the question for the time being. As
soon as the fighting is done diplomacy will
step in, and the real difficulties will then
commence. Turkey and France, and Ger.
many and Italy, will all have claims to
adjust. The powers which were perfectly
willing that England should do all the
| fCb+;D, will not no ~ oil ,,,;II;,c, 20 Il. -