The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-03-11
Our of the Land of Egypt

| Egypt, that cradle of all civiliz-
alton, playthipg for a myriad con-
| querors," is invited to come into
/ its own" the St Louis Globe DEM
! Ocrat thinks, by the proclamation
ending the British protectorate and
granting the Egyptian people the
| right to their own government and
! institutions. But whether that &C
ton is a triumph of British liber-
alism," as the Newark News, for
instance, finds it, or merely getting
rid of hot potato, is a matter OF
some disagreement in American pa
pers, as is also the extent TO which
Egypt becomes really free" under
/ its new status.
Certainly the adoption of such
radical policy on the part of Great
Britain, following so closely upon
it's release of Ireland, is one OF
many refutations of the notion
that no changes have been effected
| in the realm of international deal
ings by the upheavals of the war,
says the Manchester On. HI Union,
and, moreover, the Youngstown
Vindicator declares that 1T sets at
naught the charges of those who
declared that in Selling Egypt Brit
ain got more out of the war than
any other country"
However, it is pointed out that
England controlled Egypt for many
years before she established the
actual protectorate at the outbreak
| of the war, and the Cleveland Plain
Dealer interprets this step toward
withdrawal merely as official rec
ognition of the failure" of Eng
lands ''imperialistic aims in that
direction" which for 40 years have
| brought nothing but increased evil
| dences of hatred and unwillingness
to accept the English protectorate
as a permanent arrangement. The
Florida Metropolis (Jacksonvlllel
also sees an admission of the
crowns inability to smother fires
/ or instruction in far-removed
provinces" in the ashes of which
III. G. Wells prediction that the
end of this century may find the
British empire a thing of the past
cannot be dismissed as IN
! consequential.
1t is not Britain's inability to re-
tain her control of Egypt that has
dictated her course, other writers
think, so much as it is the inadvls-
ability of holding on. She could
unquestionably crush revolt" the
Norfolk Virginian Pilot is confident,
but ito have done so would have
been to store up big trouble in the
! A.,
asserts that cit would be foolish TO
portray Great Britain as panic
( stricken and helpless before a rest
less and turbulent Egypt" for the
Lloyd George ministry had the
power to stamp out revolt and to
bend Egypt to its imperial purposes
! if it had so elected" But as the
Virginian Pilot noted further, that
would of necessity involve the
maintenance of large garrisons at
j heavy cost. and the British govern
ment. by thus casting itself in the
role of oppressor, would always be
subject to attack. Continuing the
/ protectorate meant further fighting,
the Portland (Maine) Express and
Advertiser observes, and since
| there is mo evidence, past or pres
ent, that the country could ever be
nacified or become reconclled to
| foreign control. Britain has appar-
emily concluded that Egypt is not
worth the price" So primarily
for its own peace and convenience,
as the New York World puts it,
Britain is writing "a new Book OF
Exodus" and Lloyd George, the
| British Moses, has announced that
! he will lead his fellow countrymen
/ out OF bondage" but, the Chicago
Post adds, she has conditioned it
upon his ability to take the Red
sea and some of the Egyptians
treasures with him"
| The conditions imposed upon
| Egypt, as the Richmond Times Dis
patch reports them, are "a provis-
ional status quo for the defense of
the country, the security of the en-
pire's communications, and the pro-
| lection of foreigners and of the
Sudan" Thus is Freedom with
an IT, the Mobile Register re-
marks, or, as the Boston Tran
script puts it, independence with
in the firm walls of the British en-
pire," for while the proclamation
| Terminates the British protector
ate over Egypt in one breath" it
"reasserts it very positively with
! the next" and Great Britain will
continue to protect Egypt after the
| protectorate is terminated"