, 1882-09-15

hru' which came mp tine DwdauolIoS
and through the ~oo If Mmmora and
anchored IN sight OF Cou,tuntuuplc.
Tn. NuItan. who has lately protested
-rvTgyt,ca,Iy against IN English
tar. i'm the hmhH of Alexandria as
m invasion of his sovereign rights.
was not at all disturbed at the sight
tapu. hut ou the contrary felt an i'm
measurable relief, rs if he had been
romioyrd from a sentence of death,
when hc SAW the flags Of the great
English irouclals from the windows
Of his palace. After thus saving both
Turkey and Egypt again and again,
we think ii not a great presumption
for England to ask whether she has
not some rights in the East which
Turk and Arab are bound to respect 4?
England has great material inter
ests in Egypt. We say nothing of
the interest Of bondholders, of money
loaned for internal improvements
for railroads and canals, and piers
and ports. This very harbor of Alex
andria, which has been the scene Of
such great events, was built largely
by English money. But leaving aside
all that, the interest of England in
the Suez canal is greater than that Of
all the world beside. Eighty or
ninety per cent. of all the ships that
pass through that canal, are English
1t is the highway from England to
India. The distance from London or
Liverpool to Bombay is nearly five
thousand miles less by the Suez canal
than by the old route around Africa
The control of this therefore is not
only commercial convenience; it is
military necessity. Suppose there
were another mutiny in India, and
Arab Pasha had command of the
Suez canal, and should think it
good time to get even with Eng
land by stopping all transit, and that
the English troops should have to be
sent around by way of the Cape of
Good Hope, the two or three weeks
delay might cause the loss of the
English Empire in India. Is Eng
land going to leave matter of such
vital interest to the chance of the ca
price of military adventurer?
Now we think it is not difficult to
understand what England is fighting
for She has immense interests in
Egypt, and Egypt is in state Of an
archy, which threatens to destroy
those interests. England is fighting
to put down that anarchy, and to re-
store order and good government. In
this she is fighting for the real inter
est of Egypt as well as her own. If
the present state Of things continues,
Egypt is utterly ruined. The only
hope is in prompt and decisive action,
which shall crush rebellion and re-
establish order. AT the same time
England is fighting for the Suez ca
nal, as she would fight for Malta and
Gibraltar, as outworks of Britain,
whose preservation concerns the in
tegrity and safety of the British
Empire.
For these reasons, which might be
enlarged to any extent, it is clear to
us that England has a right to send
her troops to Egypt to settle this
business between a faithful ally, the
present Khedive, (whom the military
party would sacrifice simply because
he has been such a friend of Eng
land and his rebellious soldiers. She
has right to go there, if she has
right to go anywhere, to fight for the
security of her Indian empire. In
the battle which she has undertaken,
she is fighting for Our interests as
well as her own: to make it safe for
Americans to visit Egypt, and go up
the Nile, and to pursue their lawful
callings their travels, or their bust
ness affairs, or their missionary en-
terprises in the East.