Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-11-28
THE CRISIS IN EGYPT.
Nr. Simon VOLTS Views Upon the False
PhrOphet's Campaign.
THE SECRET HAND OF RUSSIA AGAINST ENGLAND
EGYPT HOLDING THE PAWN TICKET FOR THE
ENGLISH BONDHOLDERS.

The fatal termination Of the expedition sent
out by the Egyptian government under the
command of Hicks Pasha, to suppress the in
surrection in the Soudan, which was led by Ell
Mahdi, the False Prophet, has drawn the atten-
ton of the civilized world again to Egypt so re-
Gently the theater of rebellion that enlisted
the armed assistance of the English government
in support of the supremacy of the
khediye. A STAR reporter yesterday called
upon Mr.. Simon Wolf the ey-consul general to
Egypt and asked for his views upon this latest
phase of the troublous history Of the Egyptian
government. Mr.. Woifm odestly suggested that
as ne had not recently come from Egypt his opin-
ion c0uldnot be ofany more value than that OF any
other intelligent reader Of the newspapers for this
was the source OF his information about the
recent events in the land of the Nile. 1t was
minated however. that perhaps hehad a better
acquaintance with the drift Of popular senti-
ment in that country. and therefore the sig
nlncance Oh recent events would be more clearly
understood by him.
Egypt, you know, is o land of intrigue" re-
spolded Mr.. Wolf, ard no one knows what
Will happen twcnty-fOur hours in advance The
hhed!Ve government is mere farce and Eng
lan,i might as we'll come boldly to the front and
assume the control of affairs as to act under the
thin disguise Of the EGYPTIAN government, as
She is doing at present That was Beaconf;eld's
policy and Gladstone does not seem to have the
courage to make actual what has long been ap-
parent. The control of Egypt is necessary to
Enga1d for the protection OF her trade with
lndla and the Suez canal. Russia would like to
strike blow at England by dcpriying her of
this control, while Turkey would no doubt like
to interfere if she dared"
RUSSIAS SECRET AID.
There is no doubt in my mind" continued
Mr.. Wolf, but that the False Prophet is being
secretly aided by Russia, and this defeat will
have tendency to precipitate the crisis which
has long been pending, and which will eventu-
ally compel England to take possession OF Egypt
as one Of its provinces. l see in the morning
papers a dispatch that the Khefive has solicited
the friendly offices OF England in the question at
issue with Abyssinia. What farce that state
ment is. There would be no Egyptian govern
ment. without England and in fact England is
now the Egyptian government except in nanle.'
81 think that this is the most important move
ment since that OF Mahomet ALI" resumed Mr..
Wolf The fanaticism of the people, melted by
willy and acute leaders. gives the military oper-
atoms of The False Prophet a greater import
ance than has been assigned to it. The natives
are inspired by Jealous hate, and they can and
Will fight Just as in the Custer campaign. it
was found that the Indians could fight. Gen.
Stone when about to take charge OF the present
campaign asked for a large number Of troops.
He was laughed at. because people supposed
that much smaller force would be sufficient to
topt With IntSe natives. 1t VIII DrOUaDly US
found that Gen. Stone was right"
would the loss of the SOudan be a serious
one to Egypt: :" asked the reporter.
The SOudan is rich country" was the
reply. ct contains mines OF gold. silver and
copper. and there are a LARGE variety of products
which are exported. If the Soudan was lost.
there would be nothing left to Egypt but the
delta Of the Nile. a rich country enough but
Egypt only holds the pawn ticket fer the En- glsh
boninoideIs. They might as well hang up the
n bn hnl 1.-Two
Egyptian government is going to continue with
NJ territory but the delta Of the Nile"