The Washington herald., 1911-08-13
FOREIGN GOSSIP.

II
designs Of Sir Philip were no improve
ments upon the ideas Of his predecessor,
Sir William White. as .exemplified in the
Lord Nelson and the Minatour Then
came the all big gun and the turbine
type, which revolutionized the naval pol
Icy of the powers, making necessary L
common starting point for all in the
competition for sea supremacy The
| query, What next?' will have to be an
swered by Sir Philips successor, upon
whom the admiralty has not agreed so
far. a e..
The statement which appeared in the
London Times to the effect that Sir
Philips retirement seals the doom of the
Dreadnought type and that the British
battle ships Of next years design, will
be vessels of 1900 tons only, but with
thirty-f1ve-knot speed and armed with
f1fteen-inch guns. is, to say the least.
premature, II not wrong altogether. To
start with, Sir Philip has not near COM
pleted his designs for the war ships to be
built under the present programme; he
will not design next years ships; no one
has any idea as to who his successor will
be nor what may be his views on war
ship designs, and, finally, the lords of the
admiralty have not even begun to con-
slider the programme for the next fiscal
year. Hence, this forecast appears to
be rather premature on the part Of the
otherwise we'll informed Times.
And even were there such an idea
among the admiralty lords, 1t could not
be carried out. at least not so quickly,
and II would take years to execute II.
For neither Great Britain nor any of the
other great powers has such SUPER
fluffy OF funds, either available or to
be borrowed, to meet the naval budget
besides that for the army establishment
and other needs for the maintenance Of
the government. to be able to consign
the extremely costly Dreadnoughts, hard
ly completed and in running order, to the
junk heap, and to start all over again
with the building OF floating fighting ma
chimes to maintain a questionable su-
premacy on the seas for the sake of
peace.
Mr.. Arthur Grey, of Sutton Hall. York
shire, whose death is announced, has
long been prominent figure as a poll
tician and magistrate. His wife, Lady
Jane, Is a descendant OF Lord Grey of
Groby. who signed the death warrant of
King Charles l. He sat in the House
of Commons as Tory member for
Howdenshire division from 1885 until 1892
Mr.. Grey was son OF the British Ad-
miral Duncombe. of kituwick Percy, and
assumed the name OF Grey only in 1905
in accordance with the will of the sew
enth Earl of Stamford. his wife's uncle
who left her large estate in Leicester
shire. including the beautiful domain Of
ERADICATE Park. The mansion on that
property is a building in modernized
Elizabethan style. and is set in charm
ing old gardens and a picturesque park,
which is part of the ancient forest Of
Charnwood.
Lady Jane Grey was born at Brad
gate in the old moated and castel-
lated house which in 1912 was captured
by Prince Rupert and visited by William
III in 1896. It was burned and partially
destroyed about two centuries ago.
II appears now as certain that Sir Eldon
Gorst. the former British consul general
at Cairo, died of cancer The value OF
his services in Egypt, of which I have
spoken on the occasion of the appoint
ment of Lord Kitchener as his successor,
can hardly be exaggerated, especially as
regards the Sudan. The future OF
Egypt is a difficult problem. and Sir
Eldon succeeded the man who might |
have solved it-that is, satisfactorily to |
England
The unrest over European domination |
which blazed up on the Orient after the |
war. and which showed |
itself in an ugly shape in India, extended |
to the Egyptian Nationalists. The !
Young Turk revolt at Constantinople ag-
yravated that situation. The experiment |
of absorption of Egypt by Britain could !
not have been undertaken at a more in |
luspicious period In fact, there Is rea- |
son to believe that Egypt always will be
4 difficult ground for experiments of that |
nature.
The trouble seems to be that there |
Is no real Egyptian nation. There are
the Fellaheen. primitive, uneducated, |
and destitute of political instincts. and
there Is a sort of aristocracy of Turk
sh origin who inherit the traditions
Of ruling race and have no idea of
ever being anything else IN their re-
ations TO the natives Ohe Fellaheen).
community made upSo such hetero-
senous elements never can be governed
successfully except by Oriental despot-
SIN. That is one reason, at least, why
Egypt, as far as the constitution of
he state goes. is in practically the
same position to-day as II was when
England first undertook to support the
<hedive. Other difficulties are con-
fronting England, but 1t is the op-
position of the other powers which
fans the fanaticism of the National
SITS to a dangerous degree. I have
-eiated this phase of the issue the
,ther day.
The situation most likely is going 20
De the same at the expiration OF another
twenty or thirty years, or as long as
England shall consider it her business 70
occupy Egypt on one pretext or another.
No doubt the British government had
lespaired of any successful change of
policy when 1t decided TO send Lord
Kitchener to Egypt. With SO many
members Of the diplomatic. the colonial.
Ind the civil service eminently qualified
or the post made vacant by the death
II Sir Eldon Gorst, 1t would seem strange
hat Sir Edward Grey, the foreign min
ster, should deliberately have gone out
" his way to appoint a soldier without
diplomatic or administrative experience.
Leading London papers openly declare
hat the appointment Is indefensible
rom every point Of view. Lord Kitch-
ner was ruled out as viceroy of India
ecause he was a soldier whose ante
edents made him unfit to govern a greet
mpire in a continual state of unrest.
,gypt is in the same unrestful condl- :
lon, and II Lord Kitchener was disquali- |
ed for going to Calcutta he is equally ,
nfit to go to Cairo. All Of which fully ,
ears out the theory advanced by me re- ,
emily that Lord Kitchener's appoint q.
.ent was the punishment for his mis-
of the coronation as chief
,arshal, and the desire Of the cabinet
} place him where his soldierly talent
an do no more harm than already has
cen done. The field marshal has been ,
itchforked into a civilian berth, and in ,