The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-04-28
Fresh Egyptian Troubles.

Fresh Egyptian Troubles.
mere never was truer saying than
'shose who dance must pay the fd-
DIR. The English have had their
dace in Egypt and now the fiddler is
dnandlng his pay, and the payment
tGeatens to make serious trouble at
hme and in Egypt. The little blaze of
g)ry which attended the defeat of
fG ignorant, half-armed fellaheen at
pl-el-heblr and the capture and exile
their leader, Arab Bey, has faded
OF, and now the English Government
"a people are facing the consequences
their dearly-bought victory. There
is hrst, the cost of the war, which must
b PAD, and that involves an expense
tcthe English Exchequer Of about $18,-
10000, and to the Indian Excheauer of
Marty $6,OO0,000. This is the past
otlay, and to it must be added the cost
maintaining troops in Egypt since
To close OF the war and for an indefinite
PROC to come, for the condition of the
cuntry is as unsettled now as it was in
tie days OF Ismail Pasha. The English
t&payer will pay his proportion after
mach grumbling. So far as the Indian
poportlon is concerned, that will be
Succeed out of the natives. Wrul
Meanwhile Egypt herself is in a most
unsatisfactory condition, and the tenn
pr OF the people is such that to with
daw the troops would only be to invite
iDtant anarchy. Europeans could not
remain there a day. Some of the ma
fisssire living on the plumber they
collected during the war, others are on
the we're of starvation. The banks will
make nNadvances to planters and with
out suchadvances the crops may prove
failures. The Egyptian officials can do
nothing II relieve distress or improve
the situatin. The fellaheen meanwhile
are crushe under burden of debt va
riously estimated at from $50, 900, 900 to
$50, 900, 0OOand bearing eighteen per
cent. lnteret. Their condition is thus
described blythe London Spectator:
I'VE are infcmed that of all questions now
pending in EgNt the most urgent is that of
une lndeDteuneS OF the peasantry. Foreign
companies ana oreign usurerS have for some
tlme past ohere'their loans upon terms which,
to the poor fellas, always liable for taxes, or
arrears, or bdcksish haze proved too tempt
ing. They have AIKEN money on the security
OF their lands so generally that if the mort
cages are forecloed the majority of the popu-
lation will be evieed, and Egypt thrown into
utter d1sorganizaon. The usurerS, strong in
the expectation of European courts and
anxious for the ris and sugar lands, are dis
posed TO eY1ct; an so grave is the situation
that the Government is seriously advised to
take the tremendns step of declaring peas
ants lands unstable. They will hardly go
quite so far, becase without lands to pledge
the peasantry coud not in bad years pay their
fnN h,rN &c ,ka:.
serious step mustbe taken. A land-mortgage
bank will be set u, to lend money at low in
interest; but, q the loans must be very
limited, it is doubtful if this will SUFFICE unless
the bank is preceded by some decree declaring
the peasants bankruptcy"
The despair of the situation is that
the Egyptian Government can not or
will not do anything to help the fella-
heen out of thtir troubles, and upon its
present theort of occupation the En-
glish Government has no right to make
any permanent laws for Egypt of any
kind, though L proposes to remain in
occupation fol some time to come, and
is organizing military and police forces
to maintain order. The English policy,
indeed, seems to be a refinement of
cruelty. Declaring that it has no power
to relieve the condition of the people, it
is organizing a force to prevent them
from taking any steps to relieve them
selves. AS the Powers of Europe have
offered no objection to English military
occupation for an indefinite period, it is
not likely that any serious objection
would be made to annexation. 1t
is a little remarkable, therefore,
that the Government does not boldly
take the step and inaugurate the nee
essary reforms with some show of au-
thority. Unless something is done soon
it will have another Ireland on its hands.
In one of his recent addresses Mr. Glad
stone said: 1--WE are in Egypt for the
establishment of order and stability;
we are there for the improvement of the
institutions of the country; we are there
to secure as far as depends upon our
selves the fulfillment of international
engagements, and we are there I'M
doubleday in principal degree in ref
erence to the freedom and security of
the great passage by the canal from one
sea to another" If he had added: 1--WE
are there to stay" it would have been a
guaranty for order. If the English
troops are to remain until all that Mr..
Gladstone announces is effected the oc-
cupation may as well be considered per-
manent. If they are there simply to
prepare the way for the payment of
bondholders then the war with Egypt
must go on record as a National out
roc~n I1,oo1o Tt,.;b,,,,o