, 1885-12-26

1t is no longer a question of putting
off, but an absolute necessity to crush for
ever the increasing power of the Mahdi.-
Had we remained at DongOla, it is not
only probable but almost certain that the
movement would not have increased to
the present alarming extent. We should
have been in an infinitely better position
to meet the advance, but by adopting the
policy OF retreat when that advance
WAS imminent we have contributed to in
crease the power of the Mahdi as effective
~ as if we had lost a pitched battle".
CAIRO. Nov. 80.
NJ. Barlere'S recall enables one to speak
with a frankneSs which would have been
out OF place SO long as he remained here
the credited representative of q friendly
Government. NJ. Barrere was q pushing
French correspondent, of considerable abb
litieS and OF pleasing manners, who was
suddenly required TO act as Il dipl0matist,
He never rose to the occasion, and never
eemed to realize that qualities which
were excellent in his former profession
were not OF themselves sufficient for his
new profession. At the most critical mo-
mentS he appears to have regarded his
Government as IL newspaper and himself as
a correspondent and, in accordance with
the tradition Of French, rather than of
English journalism, to have deemed it his
uHty to telegraph anything rather than
nothing, sensation rather than fact, to
adopt Il hostile attitude towards his com
p%etitorS, and, above all, to keep himself
prominently before the public.
Beginning with outwardly friendly rela.
tionS with all, he started a private, secret
police. All grievances, small or great,
found their way 10 the French Consulate,
winch began to be regarded as a sort of
constitutional Opposition to the British
Government. Economical and other re-
forms will always produce discomfort in
countries like Egypt, and the ~ever-varying
policy of the English Cabinet certainly
did not tend to minimize this feeling. But
that dlScOntent increased in intensity when
the French Consulate became a Veritable
cave OF AlulIam, aSsociating all grievances
with England, all opposition to them with
France.
Had NJ. Barrere used such information
solely for his Government and urged a
purely diplomatic opposition, there would
have been some plauSibility in the argu,
ment that he was merely acting in the
French interest. Unfortunately, his Jour.
nallStlc instincts were not satisfied with the
limited publicity accorded by the French
Foreign Office, and under the Influence of
NJ. Borelli, a man 2Jier and less scrupu,
lous thar himself, he adopted the BOsphOre
cgypt5en as the exponent of views even
stronger than he dared openly to avow.
The straightforward loyalty of Sir E.
Barring, who was unable to realize a nature
so different from his own, proved too blunt
Il weapon until the Intellectual attempts to
suppress the Bosphore Egyptjen rendered
Nj. Barrere either so eXhilarated with tri-
umph or bewil04red at Sir E. Baring's
continued courtesy that he foolishly con-
descended to almost studied insult, and
made the question appeara personal one.
From this moment NJ. Barrere's influence
to a great extent declined, and his
childish petulance had become the joke
OF the Police and the European commune
ty, when his serious illness again attracted
sympathy.
French society in Cairo is largely imfu-
enced by the French representative, but
the errors of taste and Judgment which
people were beginning to attribute to the
results OF the illness of a man, otherwise
amlahle and talented, became intolerable
when initiated by others, possessing nei-
Their qualification in the same degree. The
refusal of some members of the colony to
pay the ordinary civility due to Her Ma
Jesty'S representative resulted in M. Bar
rere receiving certain instructions from
Paris to which he apparently found it diff
cult to give execution, and, the serious decline
of his health really necessitating a change,