Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1899-02-16
THAT EGYPTIAN QUESTION.

THAT EGYPTIAN QUESTION.
How France Backed Out and Left the
Job to England.
The Egyptian question, as it now ex-
lists, may be said to have had it's origin
in the Suez canal. Nearly two score
years ago Lord Palmerston, when in
control of the foreign relations OF
Great Britain, predicted that if a
practicable waterway were ever
created between the gulf of Potassium,
on the Mediterranean, and the Red sea,
England would be compelled sooner or
later to annex Egypt, and as Lord Pal
merston considered it undesirable
that England should annex territory
in that part of the world he strenu-
onsly opposed M De Lesseps's scheme.
Judging from the remarks made by
Lord Salisbury at the lord mayors
inaugural banquet the other day, the
English government remains Just as
averse as ever to actual annexation.
But she is determined to prevent any
other power from appropriating
Egypt, or any part thereof, and sooner
than allow this she will, so Lord Sal
isbury admitted, proclaim a British
protectorate over the land of the
Nile.
Broadly speaking, the Egyptian
question is constituted by the rival
claims of England and France for
predominant influence at Cairo and
Alexandria. 1t the other great pow
ers take part in the controversy it is
mainly with the object of helping or
harassing either France or England.
Thus there is no doubt that Russia's
participation in the controversy is
chiefly due to her desire to testify her
goodwill to France in manner that
does not entail upon the cars gov
eminent anything further than mere
diplomatic intrigue, while it has al
ways been the policy of Germany to
keep the Egyptian question open, anu
to do all that was possible to render
The French sore against Great Britain
about the matter. in order to prevent
any understanding between France
and England that might be detrimen-
tai to the interests of Germany. If
the latter maintains so enormous an
army, and is compelled to spend such
vast sums in naval and military de-
lenses, an expenditure that inter
feres with the economic development
and prosperity of the empire, it IS
chiefly, and one might say almost
solely, on account of the avowed re-
solve of the French nation to AVIAN
itself of the first favorable opportun-
ity to strike against Germany for the
recovery of the lost provinces OF
Alsace and Lorraine. German states
men, from Prince Bismarck down to
the present Kaiser, realize the advan-
tage which would accrue to Germany
through war between France and
England For, even If the former
were to prove victorious, which
F'renchmen now admit in print is i'm
probable, she would be so exhausted
and weakened by her struggle with
Great Britain that it would take years
and years before she would have re-
covered her strength sufficiently to
embark upon war of revenge against
Germany
There seems to be a general impress
sion that France has no rights in
Egypt; that she has no locus standing
there, and that her controversy with
England upon the subject is dictated
solely by spite, and by that which is
so graphically described in this coun-
try as "cussedness." This is a mis-
take, as any one not blinded by pre-
JUDGE and who knows anything about
Egypt will readily admit. Frances in
terests in Egypt we're up to the time
of the bombardment of Alexandria in
many respects superior even to those
of England. Leaving out of the
question Napoleon's invasion of Egypt,
it was France who supported the lat
ter in her struggle for independence
from Turkey, when all the other pow
ers were against her, by their opposi-
ton preventing that independence
from becoming complete. 1t was to
France that Mehemet Ali, the founder
OF the present khedival dynasty,
turned for aid in his attempt to civil
ize Egypt as he understood the mean
ing of civilization. For something like
half a century French lawyers French
engineers and Frenchmen of learning
were engaged in doing their best to
endow Egypt with the fruits of west
ern culture; and, although their ef-
forts may not In every case have been
crowned with immediate success, much
good seed was sown which has since
come to ripeness. Frenchnen, in one
word were the pioneers OF European
influence and of western civilization
in the land Of the Nile. And to such
an extent is the latter impregnated
with Gallo ideas that the French
language shares with the Arabic the
distinction Of being the official tongue,
and Englishmen in Egyptian SER
vice have actually to carry on tLeir
official correspondence with one an
other in French. Finally. 1t is toI
France that the 10Th century owes the
discovery of the means of unraveling
tho rr1vcforfao of tho tfruau ~ tho