New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-01-08
NEwyoRK DAILY TRIBUNE TUESDAY, JANUARY g. 1884

been baffied by the tendencies IT Egyptian al
ministrati0n and by the catastrophe In the
Soudan, The evacuation of the country prob
ably Will never again be seriously discussed In
Cabinet Council. Public sentiment in England,
the necessities of commercial empire and the
logic of events are arrayed against the policy
of withdrawal. Cairo is now recognized as the
real geographical centre of the British Empire.
Englishmen are unwilling to have the country
through which passes the highway to India and
Australia left to the caprIces of Eastern du-
plicty and made one of the prizes of the lottery
of European diplomacy. The garrison will re-
main as a pledge that Egypt is destined to be-
come a dependency of the Crown.
In postponing indefinitely the withdrawal or
the troops, the British Cabinet has discrim-
mated sharply between Lower Egypt and the
great African Empire conquered for Mehemet
Ali and Ismai The Khedive is informed that
England will not lend assistance in any mill
tary operations conducted against Ell Mahdl
either in Soudan or in the equatorial provinces.
What it undertakes to do is to defend Lower
Egypt against invasion from any quarter. AS
souan and the First Cataract mark the frontier
which the British Government consents to pro-
tcct This is the northern limit of the Soudan.
To the south lies an immense territory stretch
ing to the equator and the sources of the White
Nile, for which England declines to accept any
responsibility. The Khcdive may employ his
own troops in fantastic campaigns against FL
Mahdi, or may bargain with the Sultan for
Turkish expedition, but not one English soldier
will be sent beyond Assouan. No attempt will
be made by the army of occupation to retrieve
the massacre of Ell Obeid, to relieve the
Egyptian garrsOns at KhartOum Bcrbcis and
DongOla, or to defend the Nile Valley above
the First Cataract. The equatorial provinces,
wherein Sir Samuel Baker and General Gordon
labored TO secure the suppression of the slave
trade, will be left to their fate, and Lower
SOudan, annexed by Mchcmet Ali, will be at the
mercy of the False Prophet if he chooses to ex-
tend his cOnqucsts. The responsibility of Eng
land ends with the frontier of Lower Egypt.
The vast empire beyond, extending as far as
Lake Nyanza, is reduced to a vague geOgraph-
zeal conception.
Sir Samuel Baker had advised that Abyssinia
should be invited to occupy Massowah and to
advance from the southeast in order to create
a diversion that would paraiyze any rcbellous
movement of the desert Arabs. The British
Cabinet will not allow itself to be drawn into
any acknowledgements with the mOuutaineers of the
Blue Nile 1t has informed the King of
Abyssina that England will not approve of
march from Gallabat to Khartoum or Of any in
vaSion of the Spudan, and will resent any at
tack upon the Egyptian troops. The Khedive
is not to be embarrassed by an Abyssinian de-
mOnstratiOn, if he undertakes to maintain his
authority in the Soudan. At the same time he
will be advised to Withdraw his garris Ons and
to give up his shadOwy empire. If he ac-
quiesces in this policy and resists the tempta-
lions of Turkish greed and French intrigue, the
English will have only one contingency to face.
That is a victorious march of the False Prophet
to Assouan and that is danger so remote that
it scarcely deserves serious consideration.